introspection as scientific method
Listening to a podcast featuring B. Alan Wallace. Interesting to note Wallace’s view that psychology after William James has stigmatized the “personal” as completely unreliable. Contrast behaviorism as strictly viewing external behaviors and denying any import to self-reported emotions, thoughts, states.
Wallace is working on collecting and analyzing data that incorporates the introspection of experienced meditators, valuing this introspection as close, careful observation of the mind, just as other branches of science such as astrology, biology, physics rely on close, careful observation of natural phenomena.