Concept
Introspection
Overview
Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul. Introspection is closely related to human self-reflection and self-discovery and is contrasted with external observation.
It generally provides a privileged access to one's own mental states, not mediated by other sources of knowledge, so that individual experience of the mind is unique. Introspection can determine any number of mental states including: sensory, bodily, cognitive, emotional and so forth.
Introspection has been a subject of philosophical discussion for thousands of years. The philosopher Plato asked, "...why should we not calmly and patiently review our own thoughts, and thoroughly examine and see what these appearances in us really are?" While introspection is applicable to many facets of philosophical thought it is perhaps best known for its role in epistemology; in this context introspection is often compared with perception, reason, memory, and testimony as a source of knowledge.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Introspection is discussed.
I wish to distinguish three distinct questions, any one of which may be meant when we ask whether introspection is a source of knowledge. The three questions are as follows: (1) Can we observe anything about ourselves which we cannot observe about other people, or is everything we can observe PUBLIC, in the sense that another could also observe it if…
Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
The reason for this difficulty is that there is nothing left in introspection by which it can be differentiated. The term introspection properly designates, not a method but a problem; the problem, namely, of interpreting given facts with reference to their function in the control of behavior. If psychology is to justify its claim to the status of a science, it is in duty bound to secure for itself both an objective…
John Dewey, Creative Intelligence
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
This question of what we mean ourselves when we speak brings me to another problem, that of introspection. Many philosophers have held that introspection gave the most indubitable of all knowledge; others have held that there is no such thing as introspection. Descartes, after trying to doubt everything, arrived at “I think, therefore I am”, as a basis for the rest of knowledge. Dr. John B. Watson the behaviourist…
Bertrand Russell, Philosophy
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
Many psychologists thought that this method could be improved by making use of direct introspection. They thought by turning their attention to their own consciousness to be able to explain what happened when we were thinking. Or they sought to attain the same end by asking another person a question, by means of which certain processes of thought would be excited, and then by questioning the person about the…
Wilhelm Max Wundt, An Introduction to Psychology Translated from the Second German Edition
names the idea; author linked in the graph; opens on it
Besides the affection of our bodily organs from without, and the sensation thereby produced in our minds, many writers admit a third link in the chain of phenomena, which they call a Perception, and which consists in the recognition of an external object as the exciting cause of the sensation. This perception, they say, is an _act_ of the mind, proceeding from its own spontaneous activity; while in a sensation the…
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic
states what it is; author linked in the graph
Philosophers who discussed Introspection
- Ferdinand de Saussure
- Ibn Hazm
- Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)
- Mozi
- Wilhelm Wundt
- Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
- Jean Piaget
- Dan Zahavi
- Georges Rey
Related ideas
- Cognition
- Princeton University Press
- Auguste Comte
- Historiography
- Philosophy
- Immanuel Kant
- Metacognition
- Judaism
- John Stuart Mill
- Jainism
- Jihad
- Feeling
- Meditation
- Gustav Fechner
- Mental state
- Conformity
- Oxford
- Observation
- Psychology
- Plato
- Sense
- Physiology
- Peer review
- Knowledge
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Behaviorism.