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Single Idea 8831

[filed under theme 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 1. Introspection ]

Full Idea

Introspection should be regarded as a form of retrospection. Thus, a justified belief that I am 'now' in pain gets its justificational status from a relevant, though brief, causal history.

Gist of Idea

Introspection is really retrospection; my pain is justified by a brief causal history

Source

Alvin I. Goldman (What is Justified Belief? [1976], II)

Book Ref

'Epistemology - An Anthology', ed/tr. Sosa,E. /Kim,J. [Blackwell 2000], p.348

A Reaction

He cites Hobbes and Ryle as having held this view. See Idea 6668. I am unclear why the history must be 'causal'. I may not know the cause of the pain. I may not believe an event which causes a proposition, or I may form a false belief from it.

Related Idea

Idea 6668 If the present does not exist, then consciousness must be memory of the immediate past [Marshall]

The 16 ideas from Alvin I. Goldman

4047 Gestalt psychology proposes inbuilt proximity, similarity, smoothness and closure principles [Goldman]
4048 Infant brains appear to have inbuilt ontological categories [Goldman]
4049 The way in which colour experiences are evoked is physically odd and unpredictable [Goldman]
4044 Rat behaviour reveals a considerable ability to count [Goldman]
4045 Children may have three innate principles which enable them to learn to count [Goldman]
4043 Elephants can be correctly identified from as few as three primitive shapes [Goldman]
4262 If the only aim was consistent beliefs then new evidence and experiments would be irrelevant [Goldman]
6871 We can't only believe things if we are currently conscious of their justification - there are too many [Goldman]
6872 Internalism must cover Forgotten Evidence, which is no longer retrievable from memory [Goldman]
6873 Coherent justification seems to require retrieving all our beliefs simultaneously [Goldman]
6874 Internal justification needs both mental stability and time to compute coherence [Goldman]
6875 Reliability involves truth, and truth is external [Goldman]
8831 Introspection is really retrospection; my pain is justified by a brief causal history [Goldman]
8829 Justification depends on the reliability of its cause, where reliable processes tend to produce truth [Goldman]
8830 A belief can be justified when the person has forgotten the evidence for it [Goldman]
8832 If justified beliefs are well-formed beliefs, then animals and young children have them [Goldman]