Abstract

This chapter focuses on the most popular approach to introspection in contemporary philosophy, the acquaintance account defended by Nida-Rümelin, Kriegel, Giustina, and others. This says that if you are in a conscious state, you are acquainted in a special way with the state; introspective belief is belief that takes advantage of this sort of acquaintance. The chapter argues that the acquaintance account is implausible on three counts: it places an untenable restriction on the class of psychological states that are introspectable; it violates an attractive epistemic "'ought' implies 'can'" principle; and the arguments for it are unpersuasive. The chapter concludes that, while the acquaintance account is consistent with the rationalist account, there is no reason to combine them, and much reason not to.