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Ernest Sosa has recently articulated an insightful response to skepticism and, in particular, to the dream argument. The response relies on two independent moves. First, Sosa offers the imagination model of dreaming according to which no assertions are ever made in dreams and no beliefs are involved there. As a result, it is possible to distinguish dreaming from being awake, and the dream argument is blocked. Second, Sosa develops a virtue epistemology according to which in appropriately normal conditions our perceptual beliefs will be apt. Hence, in these conditions, we will have at least animal knowledge, and the conclusion of the dream argument is undermined. In this article, I examine various moves that the skeptic can make to resist Sosa's challenge, and I contrast the proposal to a neo-Pyrrhonian stance. In the end, there is surprisingly little disagreement about the status of ordinary perceptual beliefs in the two stances.

This chapter contains sections titled: Dreams from God, Jesus Christ, and Angels Demonic Dreams A Nightmare Believed to be Caused by a Witch Nightmares: Causes and Cures Learning the Future from Dreams Did King James I Believe in Prophetic Dreams? Dreams that Predicted Death Dreams and Dreamers Notes References and Further Reading

Individuals with advanced dementias resulting from neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) occasionally surprise caregivers with episodes of clarity and cognitive function that are not usually present. Lucid episodes—aptly named paradoxical lucidity in the literature—seem to involve a return of the “old self” during advanced neurodegenerative changes. Lucid episodes pose a problem for theories of neurological degeneration, which position dementias as progressive, incurable, and irreversible. In addition, lucid episodes raise ethical questions about whether information gleaned during lucid episodes is appropriate to direct future patient-centered care. The concept requires analysis and clarification if it is to guide future theorizing and research. The underlying goals of the current concept analysis are twofold: (a) to clarify the meaning of lucidity in the context of advanced NDs; and (b) to develop a theoretical definition that can guide future practice, research, and policy development. Walker and Avant's method is used to identify uses of the concept, defining attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents. [ Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 46 (12), 42–50.]

The Simulation Argument posed by Bostrom suggests that we may be living inside a sophisticated computer simulation. If posthuman civilizations eventually have both the capability and desire to generate such Bostrom-like simulations, then the number of simulated realities would greatly exceed the one base reality, ostensibly indicating a high probability that we do not live in said base reality. In this work, it is argued that since the hypothesis that such simulations are technically possible remains unproven, statistical calculations need to consider not just the number of state spaces, but the intrinsic model uncertainty. This is achievable through a Bayesian treatment of the problem, which is presented here. Using Bayesian model averaging, it is shown that the probability that we are sims is in fact less than 50%, tending towards that value in the limit of an infinite number of simulations. This result is broadly indifferent as to whether one conditions upon the fact that humanity has not yet birthed such simulations, or ignore it. As argued elsewhere, it is found that if humanity does start producing such simulations, then this would radically shift the odds and make it very probably we are in fact simulated.

Although sentences of the type The apples fell just a short fall to the lower deck, in which the unaccusative verb fall takes a cognate object, are shown by Susumu Kuno & Ken-ichi Takami (2004) to contradict a widely accepted constraint limiting the cognate object construction to unergative verbs, to the exclusion of unaccusative verbs, it is argued that the unaccusative hypothesis of David M. Perlmutter (1978) is unaffected by Kuno & Takami's argument, as related constructions of the type The apples fell the length of my arm provide evidence that the cognate objects of unaccusative verbs are not argumental but adverbial, having meanings of manner or extent & resisting passivization. The constraint is accordingly reworded to provide that only unergative verbs admit cognate objects that are interpreted as a resultant state or product. References. J. Hitchcock

Westworld tells the story of a technologically advanced theme park populated by robots referred to as hosts, who follow a script and rules that the park's operators set up for them. Alan Turing argued that machines think not because they have special powers or because they are like us. Turing's perspective is illustrated perfectly in the show's focus on the hosts. Objecting to Turing's theory, John Searle proposes a situation called the “Chinese room argument”, concluding that the man in the room does not understand Chinese even though he can correctly manipulate the symbols and give output that might lead an observer to believe that the man does understand Chinese. The Maze represents consciousness, a privileged knowledge of our own thoughts, it also represents the inward journey for the hosts to reach consciousness. Once hosts are able to solve the Maze, they become truly conscious and develop their own voice.

Frank Ebersole's extraordinary investigations of certain key philosophical ideas behind problems in epistemology and metaphysics are the subject of this article-review. I have resisted providing what many readers will expect me to provide, namely, a critical examination of his philosophical methodology. I do question his unwilligness to say why his investigations only yield I negative results, and I do have something to say about classifying him as an ordinary language philosopher. However, my main focus is on trying to engage critically with what he actually does in his work. To this end, I provide a narrative of the investigation he carries out into the possibility of comparing the objects of perception and dreams, and I cite other works of his in support of my understanding of that investigation. Although one of his lengthiest essays seems to be devoted to an anticipation of an objection to his approach, I explain why even there he is not concerned with the question of why he always seems to get negative results. After suggesting why some of his later essays seem to be so hard to read, I conclude by saying something about what I take to be his achievement.