Ep. 15 - A Two-Factor Explication Of ‘Reflection’

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, the term 'reflection' is sometimes used in different ways by scholars. To unify, make sense of, and guide our research, I synthesized a unified account from hundreds of years of English language, from philosophers, and from cognitive science. The result is this paper. In this episode, I'll read the paper, which explains the two key features of 'reflection' and how we measure them. This two-factor account of reflective thinking has implications for theories of rationality, self-knowledge, and dual-process theories. Byrd, N. (2025). A Two-Factor Explication of “Reflection”: Unifying, Making Sense of, and Guiding the Philosophy and Science of Reflective Reasoning. Res Philosophica, 102(3), 373–392. https://doi.org/10.5840/resphilosophica2711 As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications". This episode's affiliate partner is Coursera. Coursera has something for everyone: students, teachers, schools, companies, and even governments. Find out how they can serve your education needs at Coursera.com/BYRD. You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe wherever you find podcasts, follow on BlueSky at @ByrdNick.com, on Mastadon (@ByrdNick), and all the other platforms.  If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your review. 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?