Metacognition

Abstract

Abstract This chapter argues that deliberative, concept-driven thinking incorporates metacognitive monitoring and control. First, thinkers have an appreciation of the reliability of concepts for categorization and inference. Second, conclusions reached through inference elicit an epistemic feeling of rightness that reflects the plausibility of the conclusion. Inference patterns themselves likely attract feelings of reliability that constitute a phenomenological and epistemic guide for the thinker. Third, the integrated collection of representations constructed in the ‘cognitive playground’ during deliberation is plausibly monitored for coherence, affecting the thinker’s confidence. Together, these forms of metacognitive appraisal enable the thinker to appreciate what is going on in concept-involving thinking. This appreciation is part of what makes deliberation a cognitive process attributable to the person. The chapter elaborates this idea and shows how it is supported by philosophical arguments and psychological evidence.