Getting lucid about lucid dreaming
The Philosophical Quarterly November 11, 2024 Robert Cowan
Lucid dreams are a distinctive phenomenon where dreamers know they are dreaming while dreaming. This paper develops and defends the 'Dyadic Model', which holds that lucid dreams involve both dreaming and non-dreaming states. The model successfully defends the Imagination Theory of dreams—that to dream is to imagine—against the objection that it cannot account for lucid dreams. The author explains that a range of theories of dreaming have reason to adopt the Dyadic Model, and it has further potential applications, including to false awakening and emotional responses to dreams. Getting lucid about lucid dreaming reveals general insights for dream theorizing.