Some Paradoxes of Reflective Thinking

Abstract

Introduction:  The halls of my area’s elementary schools are plastered with various posters and signs direcing the children to «STOP AND THINK.» If one should stop and think about what exactly these signs are intended to accomplish, it’s safe to say that «think» is being used in a special sense here, since not any old thinking will suffice; we are urging the children to take the time necessary to engage in something like what Cumberland reckons to be among our «perfections.» After all, the child at hand will have already thought about what they are doing sufficiently to be doing it (or else we couldn’t direct them to stop), and so directing them to simply think more about it may not be useful advice-why should they? Apparently (and it is apparent) we are trying to get the kids to think in a certain, reflective, way. I am going to scrutinize this «way» somewhat. My thesis is that in an important sense it, or what I will call «the reflective self,» has its origins within a community of inquiry.