What is Nelson Narens metacognition?

Nelson Narens metacognition is a concept in personal epistemology: Metacognition — the ability to observe your own thinking — is what makes self-correction possible. Without it, you cannot debug your own reasoning.

Example: You're in a meeting and feel yourself getting defensive about technical feedback. The defensiveness is running on Layer 1 — automatic, fast, reactive. But there's a Layer 2 that can notice: 'I'm being defensive right now. Is that useful, or is it blocking information I need?' That noticing — the observer seeing the reaction — is the prerequisite for every upgrade to how you think.

This concept is part of Phase 1 (Perception and Externalization) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for perception and externalization.