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Full Idea
For Armstrong, introspection involves a belief, and mental states and their accompanying beliefs are 'distinct existences', so a state without belief shows states are not self-intimating, and the belief without the state shows beliefs aren't infallible.
Clarification
'Self-intimation' is a mental state being obvious to its possessor
Gist of Idea
A mental state without belief refutes self-intimation; a belief with no state refutes infallibility
Source
report of David M. Armstrong (A Materialist Theory of Mind (Rev) [1968]) by Sydney Shoemaker - Introspection
Book Ref
'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.396
A Reaction
I agree with Armstrong. Introspection is a two-level activity, which animals probably can't do, and there is always the possibility of a mismatch between the two levels, so introspection is neither self-intimating nor infallibe (though incorrigible).
| 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] |