ABSTRACT
The early philosopher-psychologists relied heavily on introspection and personal experience in considering how we think, and in giving advice on studying or suggestions for improving education. But it would be wrong to give the impression that the evidence they used was necessarily weak or that the conclusions they reached were entirely false. By skilful questioning and by careful observation, the early philosophers from at least the time of the Egyptians and early Greeks built up impressive evidence about thought processes, with which they speculated about the intellectual powers of man. The application of rigorous logic to cumulative introspective accounts led to useful insights into that most human characteristic — self-consciousness.
