ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents an analysis of the inferential aspect of epistemics. It argues that the basic inferential mechanism involved in what has been generally regarded as two qualitatively distinct modes of reaching judgments, that is, the "fast" and the "slow" ways of thinking or the reflexive and reflective modes. The book presents a seminal paper that initiated what was to become a particularly fruitful and prolific line of research, yielding scores of papers in various domains of psychological science to which the fundamental dimensions of action are of relevance. It addresses the question of means selection for serving best the goal of personal significance. This function is fulfilled by a violence-justifying narrative that identifies aggression and terrorism as the supreme road to personal significance.
