Dream, Death, and the Self

"In this long, meditative, worrying book Valberg explores and defends these thoughts about himself and searches for their sources and their implications for all of us. It is an intense, personal book, aspiring to the kind of philosophical reflections that brings to light something we all know about ourselves already, but for various reasons are unwilling or unable to acknowledge."—Barry Stroud, Times Literary Supplement

"Valberg's book is thoughtful, original, and challenging. He contends that the right sort of attention to the skeptical possibility that one might now be dreaming and to the fact that one will die reveals a common subject matter: that within which all one's experience unfolds, what he calls 'the personal horizon' and sometimes 'consciousness.' Valberg argues further that a proper understanding of central problems about self-reference, self-knowledge, embodiment, and personal identity demands attention to this same horizonal sense of self."—Randall Havas, author of Nietzsche's Genealogy

"In J. J. Valberg's extraordinary book, one finds a distinctive conception of philosophical problems, a highly original response to dream skepticism, a deep interpretation of the meaning of death, and a groundbreaking discussion of personal identity. Valberg's position is both striking and masterfully developed. The puzzles he discusses are of considerable philosophical importance."—Douglas G. Winblad, Vassar College