‘Meta-reflexivity’ sounds a complicated mental activity, but it is one that every normal human being practises, at least on occasion. It entails being reflexive about our own acts of reflexivity. Much of the internal conversation consists in asking ourselves questions and answering them. Thus, in ‘primary’ reflexivity, we may ask ourselves what date it is today, and supply an answer. The subject who proposes that ‘the date is 8 May’, might, upon hearing this (as object), then have her doubts – and an internal discussion can ensue. Here, what she is bending back upon is her own utterance. In this case it is a proposition which she has heard herself enunciate. Yet, on hearing it, she doubts its truth for some reason. The ensuing conversation is about the proposition and is an internal attempt to establish the correct date. However, she can also ask herself, ‘why was I a day out?’ – and perhaps provide the answer, ‘you always get confused when there's been a Bank Holiday’. This is an exercise of meta-reflexivity; the internal conversation is not about the proposition itself but about why she herself uttered it.

The insertion of this extra loop into the interior dialogue is a recognisable occurrence to most people. Usually it takes the form of questions we put to ourselves, even if we cannot supply the answers: ‘Why does he always rub me up the wrong way?’, ‘Why do I often type “becuase” instead of “because”’, or ‘why did I believe I wouldn't need a jersey today?’ ‘Meta-renexivity’ can be about the trivial or the profound, just as any act of ‘primary’ reflexivity may be.