Dreams and Time. A Phenomenological Analysis

Dreams remain poorly understood in philosophy, but Freud and Jung showed that dream interpretation offers practical benefits. This paper argues that understood dreams can provide a new life perspective, especially during difficult times. Using Maria Zambrano's innovative phenomenological approach—which examines dream form and its relation to time perception rather than dream content—the author observes that people possess multiple types of consciousness and different forms of access to time, linked to varied perception modes and emotional states. Applying this theory, Maria J. Neves demonstrates that phenomenological dream analysis can produce significant changes in people's lives.

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Abstract

Dreams are a complex phenomenon which the philosophical field knows very little about. However, scientists like Freud or Jung, were able to prove that dream interpretation brings different advantages to our lives. For that reason, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that dreams, when understood, can offer us a new life perspective, especially in difficult times. Therefore, with the help of an innovative phenomenological approach introduced by Maria Zambrano, which focuses on the form of the dream and its relation with time perception, rather than the dream content, we are going to observe that people have many types of consciousness, as well as different forms of access to time which relate to multiple perception modes and emotional states. Applying this theory, Maria J. Neves, is able to demonstrate that a phenomenological dream analysis can produce significant changes in peoples’ lives.