David M. Peña-Guzmán

“When I run down the street to catch the bus, I am "conscious" insofar as I am immersed in an all-encompassing world that is present-to-me, a world that I cannot grasp from an external point of view. As far as I am concerned, this world is the real here and now. It is not a simulation. It is not a figment of my imagination. When I run to catch the bus, I am "conscious" because I am presented with a global and transparent reality. But if the reason we describe this experience as "conscious" is because it meets these criteria, there is no justification for describing dream states any differently. When I dream of running to catch the bus, I am also immersed in a here and now; I also experience the here and now of my dream as a totality that envelops me rather than as a spectacle that I gaze at from a distance; and I also experience this totality as real rather than ersatz. When I dream, therefore, I must be conscious, even if I am not necessarily conscious of being in a dream. In my dreams, I am not conscious of dreaming; I am conscious as dreaming.”
― David M. Peña-Guzmán, When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness

“Unfortunately, philosophers and scientists have traditionally failed to see the signs of the imaginary in other animals, the horizon of their own imaginations being perhaps too narrow to accommodate the imagination of other critters.”
― David M. Peña-Guzmán, When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness