Locke on the Inner Sense and Inner Observation

The paper focuses on the question whether Locke has a concept of inner observation (introspection). The discussion surveys the evolution o f Locke’s ‘inward’ terminology in the Drafts (A & B) and in the Essay, and examines the different significations in which Locke employs the word ‘con­sciousness’, and the way he uses both the noun ‘reflection’ and the verb. The paper also surveys descriptions o f ‘attention’ and ‘observation’ o f inner phe­nomena, as hallmarks o f a concept o f introspection. It concludes that tiiere is a definite working concept of introspection in Locke’s Assay, which is not desig­nated by a single term, though ‘reflect’ sometimes signifies it, along with other active verbs such as to perceive, examine, notice, etc.; and also that Locke’s concept o f inner observation differs from classical psychological introspection in one trait: Locke’s non-imagistic phenomenology o f inner experience.