Personal horizon is a concept developed byJ. J. Valberg in his bookDream, Death and the Self.[1] He attempts to bring out his subject-matter by considering thedream hypothesis – what ifthis were a dream? In Valberg's view, an undetermined horizon would necessarily be internalised (a.k.a. subconscious) ifthis were all a dream. This leads to "horizonal" conceptions ofconsciousness,mind,experience,life, theself, etc. Valberg subsequently considers death, and argues that when the meaning of death strikes us in the right way, it presents us with the prospect of nothingness – not there being nothingfor me, but nothingperiod. This corresponds to one's personal horizon being thepre-eminent one, corresponding to a weak version ofsolipsism (arguably closely related to Hare'segocentric presentism). Valberg points out the difficulty of reconciling this with his commitment to the view that he shares the world withmetaphysical equals; he continues by re-evaluating many well-studied problems in philosophy in light of this notion of the personal horizon.
Mark Johnston compares this notion to his related but distinct notion of an "arena of presence and action", which contains the stream of consciousness, and argues for the latter.[2]