There’s a theory that dreaming is essentially imagining and visualizing. After all, a dream is a fabricated world we create ourselves. But what about lucid dreaming, where a person understands they’re asleep? How can knowledge simply be one’s imagination? English philosopher Robert Cowan called this the “Lucidity Problem.”
In an attempt to find a solution, Cowan proposed his “Dyadic Model,” through which he argues that two processes occur simultaneously in a lucid dream:
1. The dream itself. This is indeed a fabricated world, a product of the imagination.
2. Awareness of being asleep. This is not part of the dream but a separate state of consciousness that is unrelated to the fabricated world.
This model also explains some of the mysteries of lucid dreaming. For example, it explains that they are often unstable because of the struggle between two processes: immersion in the dream and maintaining awareness. As soon as one of them wins, the person either gets carried away by the dream’s plot or wakes up.
Cowan also mentions another phase state—false awakening—noting its similarity to lucid dreams. His Dyadic Model is also suitable for explaining this phenomenon since, like lucid dreaming, it involves the co-occurrence of two processes: on the one hand, the person is asleep (immersed in an imaginary world), and on the other hand, they are convinced they have woken up.
What do you think of this philosophical perspective on lucid dreaming?
The article was published in November 2024 in The Philosophical Quarterly.
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