Single Idea 6671

[catalogued under 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection]

Full Idea

It seems impossible for me to acquire perfectly general concepts of thought and feeling, applicable to other people as well as to myself, purely from some queer kind of mental self-observation, but this is what the observational model demands.

Clarification

The 'observational' model is learning of my thoughts and feelings by observing them

Gist of Idea

It seems impossible to get generally applicable mental concepts from self-observation

Source

E.J. Lowe (Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind [2000], Ch.10)

Book Reference

Lowe,E.J.: 'Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind' [CUP 2000], p.289


A Reaction

I don't understand the word 'queer' here, which seems part of an odd modern fashion for denigrating introspection. It is right, though, that the acquisition of general mental concepts from my mind seems to depend on analogy, which is a suspect method.