You may have heard me drone on and on about this thing called “reflective thinking”. We philosophers and cognitive scientists are preoccupied with it. However, we lack a definition of ‘reflective thinking’ that can serve both philosophers and scientists.
Because I do both philosophy and cognitive science, I’ve had to synthesize a measurable construct from fields like psychology and philosophy.
In this episode, I’ll read my latest paper, which explains the two key features of ‘reflection’ and how we measure them. This two-factor account of reflective thinking can unify centuries of English-language scholarship. And it has implications for theories of rationality, self-knowledge, and so-called dual systems.
As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under “Publications”.
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Related posts
- On Whether Reflection Is A Skill
- The Roles of Intuition & Reflection in Skill & Expertise
- On Whether Reflection Is A Virtue
- What good is reflective reasoning?
- What Is Reflective Reasoning?
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Hi, Nick!
Maybe reflective thinking is not so tough. What we have called daydreaming is what I have termed, the brain, on idle. Clearly—I think—reflective thinking is something more. Such thought emotes intention and purpose towards some problem or goal. Perhaps, daydreaming>>>towards reflective thinking. Thanks!
Hi Paul. We agree that reflection is more than day-dreaming even though day-dreaming involves one aspect of of reflection: it’s conscious, but not deliberate part.
Day-dreaming seems most similar to (and may just be an instance of) what I call “rumination” in the paper. I mention mind-wandering as an example.
Thank you.
PDV.