Philosophy of the Unconscious of the scales, and his 'World-process' in the other. There are some who believe they weigh equally; for in each scale there is an evil word—and a good joke." Hartmann's work has been seen as preparing the way for Freud's later theory of the unconscious. Freud consulted "Philosophy of the Unconscious" while writing "The Interpretation of Dreams" (1899), in which he called Hartmann the firmest opponent of the theory that dreams are wish fulfillments. The philosopher Hans Vaihinger was influenced by "Philosophy of the Unconscious", relating in his "The Philosophy of 'As if'" (1911) how it led him to Schopenhauer.
Dream interpretation waking beliefs and desires. The ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia have left evidence of dream interpretation dating back to at least 3100 BC. Throughout Mesopotamian history, dreams were always held to be extremely important for divination and Mesopotamian kings paid close attention to them. Gudea, the king of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash (reigned 2144–2124 BC), rebuilt the temple of Ningirsu as the result of a dream in which he was told to do so. The standard Akkadian "Epic of Gilgamesh" contains numerous accounts of the prophetic power of dreams. First, Gilgamesh himself has two dreams foretelling the arrival of Enkidu.