On Prophesying By Dreams

The treatise, one of the Parva Naturalia, is an early inquiry (perhaps the first formal one) into this phenomenon. In his skeptical consideration of such dreams, Aristotle argues that, although "the sender of such dreams should be God," it is nonetheless the case "that those to whom he sends them are not the best and wisest, but merely commonplace persons" (i, 462b20-22). Thus, "Most [so-called prophetic] dreams are, however, to be classed as mere coincidences" (i, 463a31-b1).