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Full Idea
Foundationalist epistemology takes all empirical knowledge to be grounded in the introspective knowledge each mind has of its own states, …holding that introspective judgements are 'incorrigible' or 'infallible', and mental states are 'self-intimating'.
Clarification
'Self-intimating' means obvious; 'incorrigible' means can't be proved false; 'infallible' means must be true
Gist of Idea
Empirical foundationalism says basic knowledge is self-intimating, and incorrigible or infallible
Source
Sydney Shoemaker (Introspection [1994], p.396)
Book Ref
'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.396
A Reaction
Descartes' foundationalist Cogito also seems to be based on introspection, making introspection the essence of all foundationalism. The standard modern view is that introspective states are incorrigible, but not infallible.
| 5676 | To say that I 'know' I am in pain means nothing more than that I AM in pain [Wittgenstein] |
| 5690 | A mental state without belief refutes self-intimation; a belief with no state refutes infallibility [Armstrong, by Shoemaker] |
| 5687 | For true introspection, must we be aware that we are aware of our mental events? [Shoemaker] |
| 5688 | Empirical foundationalism says basic knowledge is self-intimating, and incorrigible or infallible [Shoemaker] |
| 5803 | In a representational theory of mind, introspection is displaced perception [Dretske] |
| 5805 | Introspection does not involve looking inwards [Dretske] |
| 5807 | Introspection is the same as the experience one is introspecting [Dretske] |
| 3467 | Neither introspection nor privileged access makes sense [Searle] |
| 3483 | Introspection is just thinking about mental states, not a special sort of vision [Searle] |
| 3422 | Externalism about content makes introspection depend on external evidence [Kim] |
| 9328 | All conscious states can be immediately known when attention is directed to them [Lehrer] |
| 8831 | Introspection is really retrospection; my pain is justified by a brief causal history [Goldman] |
| 2967 | We might even learn some fundamental physics from introspection [Lockwood] |
| 5692 | Introspection is not perception, because there are no extra qualities apart from the mental events themselves [Rosenthal] |
| 5670 | Knowledge of thoughts covers both their existence and their contents [Cassam] |