 The phenomena of dreams are sometimes raised as an objection to the common beliefs about the existence of sensible objects because we may believe that the illusions of a dream have continued, external, and independent existence. This is reason to doubt the existence of all perceptual objects unless we have better evidence for their reality than we have for that of the seeming objects of dreams. Shepherd dispatches the objection, but with a proviso. She maintains that the sensations that occur in dreams are just like those that occur in waking experience. But when dreaming, a person’s ability to amass a large number of sensations is limited. When awake, a person can discover that the seeming objects of dreams do not “fulfill their definitions” by moving the eyes, hands, and so on. We think of perceptual objects as belonging to various kinds to which we give names and definitions. Shepherd maintains that a general name such as “apple” is defined in terms of its sensible qualities--round, juicy, sweet smelling, etc.--and its effects when compounded with other sorts of objects-- providing nourishment if eaten, turning brown if exposed to air, and the like—and its capacity to be perceived by more than one human being; that is, the definition includes all the object’s sensible effects, qualities, and powers. If we dream of an apple, we wake up to find nothing that can be felt, tasted, or perceived to interact with other objects as things properly called “apple” do; this shows it wasn’t real. On the other hand, the more evidence we have that a purported object appears and behaves as apples do, the more probable the belief that the supposed apple exists in the world. Provided that we can detect the illusions of dreams on this basis, the fact that we dream is no reason to doubt beliefs about the existence of sensible objects in general. 