人类的自我反思有两个常见的形态：一个是不断为自己的惯性思维和行动寻找和分派合理性；另一个是不断地反思和批判自己惯性思维和行动的合理性。二者都超越了动物的本能反应，但相对来说，前者仰仗了大脑的解释器功能，后者则利用了大脑的二次抽离特性。前者成为大多数人无法摆脱的终身选择，后者则留下了人类历史上“吾日三省吾身”、“认识你自己”、“我思故我在”等伟大的思想遗产。
There are two kinds of human self-reflection: one is to constantly seek and assign rational explanation to one’s own habitual thinking and actions; the other is to constantly reflect and criticize the rationality of one’s own habitual thinking and actions. Both transcend the instinctive responses of animals, but relatively speaking, the former relies on the interpreter function of the brain, and the latter takes advantage of the second-order abstraction of the brain. The former has become a lifelong choice that most people cannot get rid of, while the latter has left behind the great ideological legacy of “Examine thyself three times a day”, “Know thyself”, and “I think, therefore I am” in human history.