This book presents three lectures by Allan Hobson, entitled "The William
James Lectures on Dream Consciousness". The three lectures expose the
new psychology, the new physiology and the new philosophy that derive
from and support the protoconsciousness hypothesis of dreaming. They
review in detail many of the studies on sleep and dreaming conducted
since the days of Sigmund Freud. Following the lectures are commentaries
written by scholars whose expertise covers a wide range of scientific
disciplines including, but not limited to, philosophy, psychology,
neurology, neuropsychology, cognitive science, biology and animal
sciences. The commentaries each answer a specific question in relation
to Hobson's lectures and his premise that dreaming is an altered state
of consciousness. Capitalizing on a vast amount of data, the lectures
and commentaries provide undisputed evidence that sleep consists of a
well-organized sequence of subtly orchestrated brain states that
undoubtedly play a crucial function in the maintenance of normal brain
functions. These functions include both basic homeostatic processes
necessary to keep the organism alive as well as the highest cognitive
functions including perception, decision making, learning and
consciousness.