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This is perhaps the highest and most sophisticated reasoning skill, presupposing the others that have been listed. It involves standing back and recognizing the processes one is using, deliberately invoking those most appropriate to the given circumstances, and providing the basis for conscious transfer of reasoning methods from familiar to novel contexts.
Given such awareness, one can begin to penetrate new situations by asking oneself probing questions and constructing answers. Starting with artificial, idealized, oversimplified versions of the problem, one can gradually penetrate to more realistic and complex versions. In an important sense, this is the mechanism underlying independent research and investigation.
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