Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the relation between philosophy and psychology, an arguing for their mutual interdependence. It contrasts folk psychology with scientific language. It consists of my comments as discussant at a symposium on ‘“Folk psychology” and its implications for psychological science’, convened by Ullin Place on behalf of the HPPS for the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference, in Blackpool, in 1993. The book discusses the introspection, both the theoretical problems of its nature and status, and practical problems such as interference and accessibility. It addresses problems that are perceived as obstacles to the scientific investigation of conscious experience: conceptual confusion and an absence of natural categories; privacy; and epiphenomenalism or lack of causal efficacy—and considers the extent to which they can be mitigated.