ABSTRACT
Mental life is invisible, and its expression in action is under voluntary, intentional control. The psychological sciences have been slow in accepting the methodological challenge posed by these two facts. Several evasive tactics have been tried. The first tactic was to observe mental life directly, by looking inward. The second evasive tactic was to decree that action itself is the object of study in psychology. Both of these tactics deny the necessity of inferring mental events from observations of actions. In a third evasive move, psychology was declared a part of the humanities, with the implication that interpretation of human behavior is necessarily, irrevocably subjective. While admitting the need for inferences, this stance denies the possibility of imposing a discipline on those inferences, a discipline that makes rational discussion and intersubjective agreement possible. We now know that the evasive tactics of introspectionism, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology do not work; they were worth trying but they failed. We are left with the sole option of tackling the methodological challenge of mental life head on.
