The Introspective Method

This chapter puts forward a framework for assessing the use of introspection in scientific theorizing, based on the distinction between introspective access and introspective method. It demonstrates the value of the framework by applying it to elucidate and critically evaluate different scientific uses of introspection. Firstly, the chapter discusses past uses of introspection, focusing on central figures early German experimental psychology. Articulating their views in terms of the proposed framework brings to light the advanced and insightful state of debate among them and their recognition of the distinction between introspective access and method. Secondly, the chapter looks at the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS) in present-day science of consciousness. Applying the proposed framework, the chapter offers an historically informed critical appraisal of PAS. PAS’s main weakness involves proponents’ imprecision about the notion of introspection at work in it, rather than being subject to a generic worry about the use of introspection as such.