This collection of essays investigates whether the fundamental human capacities of freedom, rationality, and knowledge are contingent upon the existence of metamental operations. Keith Lehrer, a prominent philosopher of epistemology, utilizes a framework of recursive mental processing to argue that the human mind functions as a metamind. He posits that thoughts about thoughts are necessary for the evaluation and control of lower-level information, thereby enabling human agency and plasticity.

Experts in the field of epistemology recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of self-reflective cognition. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for those with a background in analytic philosophy.