Mental Calisthenics and Self-Reflexive Fiction

Drawing on what we know about priming effects, informational encapsulation, lucid dreaming, imaginative practice, and the “mirror box” illusion, this paper argues that self-reflexive fictions may enhance our capacity for simultaneous belief and disbelief, a capacity of surprising importance for human flourishing. (Central example: Federico Fellini’s film 8 1/2 .)