Dreaming

For centuries, people have sought to explain not only what people dream about, but also why humans dream. In older times, dreams were used for prophecy. Later, they were used in the growing field of psychology.

But, until fairly recently, people only theorized about what dreams mean, and not why people themselves have evolved the capacity to dream.

This paper examines various theories that explain why human beings dream. The first part of the paper looks at the writing of Sigmund Freud regarding dreams as the royal road to the unconscious. Implicit in Freud's writings is the view that dreams evolved as humans were forced to sublimate their natural desires to live in society.

The paper then looks at the work of J. Allan Hobson, who saw dreams as a result of the natural physiological workings of the brain. In this body of research, Hobson meticulously matches the features...
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