On one hand, I believe that we currently don't have the technology to make Freud's theory testable and therefore scientific. On the other hand, I don't agree with Hobson's counter-theory. For me, the coincidence is far too unlikely that dreams are unpredictable and random. Hobson himself states that in the lowest point of non-REM sleep our brain is 80% active. So if only 20% of our brain is not working, it seems to me that our dreams probably come from the 80% of the brain that is working. And if our brain is working, wouldn't it make sense that it is active in a cogent way? I don't think that 80% of our brain is thinking random, unpredictable thoughts that are completely irrelevant to our lives.
Now, I do agree with Hobson's idea that our brain tries to put together the best story it can around the ideas of our dreams, but again, I do not believe that it is all random. It cannot be that these random thoughts just happened to turn into a lake full of snakes in my dream a couple weeks ago. I really struggle to think that my fear of snakes had nothing to do with the fact that they were circling me. So while I am not completely satisfied with Freud's theory, I am not completely sympathetic to Hobson's alternative theory. If, as Soames states, Freud's theory can be updated, modified, and improved upon, I could easily be talked into being a believer.
No comments:
Post a Comment