The science of mind as it could have been : about the contingency of the (quasi-)disappearance of introspection in psychology

International audienceEven before its extensive use in psychology during the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, introspection was criticized for reasons of principle. Later on, after a short-lived burst of work in this field, introspection came under such intense attacks, from behaviorists as well as from its own ranks, that it (apparently) disappeared. Psychologists overtly discarded it, even though they were unable to dispense completely with it in practice. In recent years, a strong movement of renewal, and redefinition, of introspection has been witnessed. One may then raise several questions of epistemological relevance about this renewal. What changed between nineteenth century introspection and current introspection? Are the conditions for a successful study of first-person experience now fulfilled? Was the eclipse of introspection unavoidable