Abstract:

A traditional view is that scientific evidence requires methods to be public or intersubjective: they must be usable by different investigators and must produce agreement. The publicity constraint ostensibly precludes introspection. But the science of consciousness relies on the subjects’ introspective reports, so there is a tension between the publicity requirement and scientific practice. This chapter argues against the publicity requirement and in (provisional) support for reliance on introspection.

Keywords: consciousness; epistemology; public methods; intersubjective methods; introspection; agreement

Document Type: Research article