Overview

Mental reflexivity, or metamentation - a mind thinking about its own thoughts - underpins reflexive consciousness, deliberation, self-evaluation, moral judgement, the ability to think ahead, and much more. Yet relatively little in philosophy or psychology has been written about what metamentation actually is, or about why and how it came about. In this book Radu Bogdan proposes that humans think reflexively because they interpret each other's minds in social contexts of cooperation, communication, education, politics and so forth. As naive psychology, interpretation was naturally selected among primates as a battery of practical skills that preceded language and advanced thinking. Metamentation began as interpretation mentally rehearsed: through mental sharing of attitudes and information about items of common interest, interpretation conspired with mental rehearsal to develop metamentation. Drawing on philosophical, psychological and evolutionary perspectives, Bogdan analyzes the main phylogenetic and ontogenetic stages through which primates' abilities to interpret other minds evolve and gradually create the opportunities and resources for metamentation. Contrary to prevailing views, he concludes that metamentation benefits from, but is not a predetermined outcome of, logical abilities, language and consciousness.

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9780262024679

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Reviews

This essay offers a novel approach whose originality lies in the ingenuity to integrate disparate ingredients in an elaborate scenario. -- Fernando Martinez-Manrique, Philosophy in Review This is an interesting and stimulating book... thought-provoking and enriching. -- Andreas Demetriou and George Spandoudis, APA Review of Books

""This essay offers a novel approach whose originality lies in the ingenuity to integrate disparate ingredients in an elaborate scenario."" Fernando Martinez-Manrique Philosophy in Review

Author Information

Lisa L. Martin is Professor of Government at Harvard University.

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