Intended Meaning

Dream here differs from sleep and from true vision; it is interwoven, non-coherent images that appear during sleep. It is understood as a sequence of disturbed scenes in which meaning is not completed

The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas

  • Type of argument: definitional
  • Argument movement: it distinguishes dream as non-coherent images that appear in sleep.
  • Key terms: dream, non-coherent images, sleep.
  • Degree of centrality: central.

It sets a semantic boundary between dream and other states of sleep, and gives the reader an initial criterion for understanding the term apart from confusion with vision or sleep-dreaming.

Basis

  • Supporting text: «Dream: interwoven, non-coherent images that appear during sleep».

Degree of Documentation

  • Level: directly documented
  • Meaning of the level: the atom relies on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
  • Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted word for word.

Its Function in the Book

Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.

Editorial Note

The formulation is abstract and works well as a brief terminological entry.