A Study of Dreams in the Views of Aristotle and Avicenna

The problem of dreams is an important problem discussed by philosophers throughout history. In ancient Greece, Aristotle wrote an independent essay on dreams, and Muslim philosophers have tied the problem of dreams with prophethood. The philosophical reflections of Avicenna, as the greatest philosopher in the Islamic world, on the matter are of utmost importance. He discusses dreams in terms of his account of the existence of the soul, its immateriality, and its faculties, particularly the imagination. On the other hand, Aristotle deals with dreams and their nature in terms of perception and the imaginative faculty. The main question in this paper is to elaborate and consider the accounts of dreams provided by these two philosophers. The paper seeks to uncover the distinctions and commonalities between the two, and the impact Aristotle had on Avicenna’s account of dreams. The method is a comparative study of the two philosophers from the point of view of philosophy and the history of philosophy. The paper concludes that Avicenna has contributed great subtleties in his account of soul and dreams, although he was influenced by Aristotle.