Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Algol]

I've always wondered whether a blind person (that is blind from birth) has the capability to dream? This isn't so more philosophical as it is a scientific inquiry, but does anyone know? Sure, they can here sounds, feelings, and even smells, but I can't remember once where I've dreamed without visual reference to that dream. Anyone know or know someone they could ask? I'm really curious.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Do you mean can they see in their dreams? That would be an interesting question.

If you mean whether or not they can dream at all, that seems clear that they can. If they have been blind from birth, they generally have auditory-only dreams (source), which makes sense to me since I generally don't dream that I can see in infrared or have some other sixth sense that certain animals do.

[Misty]

Philosophizing will not answer these questions, asking the blind will.

[A Poster He or I]

Years ago I occasionally encountered a fellow-commuter on my evening train who was blind since birth. He always struck up conversations with whoever was in earshot. I remember him remarking to someone that he dreamed of sounds and situations, but no images.

[Ecurb]

Here's an exerpt from a magazine article I wrote (it's not on this exact subject, but on a similar one):

“And Jesus took the blind man by the hand…and when He put His hands upon him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men looking like trees walking.” Mark, 8:24

The Miracle of Sight

“Seeing is believing,” according to the aphorism. But William Moyneux, whose wife was blind, asked philosopher John Locke: “Suppose a man was born blind and taught by touch to distinguish between a cube and a sphere. If his vision was restored, could he distinguish which was which before touching them?”

In several rare medical cases, the blind actually have had their vision restored. As reported by Oliver Sachs in An Anthropologist on Mars, the adjustment has not always been easy. H.S., a patient who received a corneal transplant after 22 years of blindness reported:

During the first weeks I had no appreciation of depth or distance; street lights were luminous stains stuck to the window panes, and the corridors of the hospitals were black holes…. Nor was it possible for me to count my own five fingers… it was not possible to pass from one to the other while counting.

All of the newly sighted have difficulty adjusting. S.B., another individual who had recovered his sight was always struck by how objects changed in appearance from different perspectives. For those not accustomed to seeing, this flux of appearances is not anchored to the world of objects – to space.

The infant learns to coordinate the impulses sent to the brain by his optic nerve with images sent by his sense of touch by batting a mobile around in his crib. As adults, we have no memory of this process of learning how to see. But Mark’s version of Jesus restoring the blind man’s sight is in remarkable agreement with the medical records. When Jesus first restores the man’s sight, the man can see, but cannot distinguish between men and trees. So Jesus, “put His hands on his eyes again… and he saw every man clearly.” The miracle was actually two-fold – restoring physical sight and providing enlightenment as to how to interpret it.


(lest the atheists on this board attack the notion of "miracles" let me assure them that I am not commenting on the historical accuracy of the story, merely on its artisitic merit in confoming to scientific facts not widely known when the story was written.)

[Stormy]

They do...but that doesn't mean when they wake up they can still see...when you close your eyes, what do you see?