Eline Busck Gundersen, Nick Allott, Timothy Chan and Anders Nes' research project awarded FRIHUM funding

Human beings, like many other animals, think and act intelligently to achieve their aims. But unlike most – perhaps all – other animals, we are also able to think about thoughts themselves, or ‘metarepresent’, and engage in deliberate, critical reasoning. Both abilities are manifestations of our nature as reflective beings, and arguably central to human nature. Philosophers have long sought to understand each of these two human abilities, but hitherto largely in isolation, as a result leaving many important questions unanswered. We propose to make significant progress by a systematic, integrated study of the interconnections between reasoning and metarepresentation, exploring how they are jointly exercised in central domains of mentality, including self-awareness, autonomous action, and communication. Our innovative approach will generate new perspectives on a range of key debates in these subject areas, as well as contribute to a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of the human mind itself.