The Eastern Introverted Empirical Paradigm: Epistemological Foundation, Verification via Shared Experience and Contemporary Transformation

Abstract

Abstract This article systematically constructs an Eastern introverted empirical paradigm rooted in Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions, in contrast to the dominant Western extroverted empirical model. While the latter relies on external observation, experimentation and quantitative analysis as standard scientific norms, the Eastern cognitive path centering on self-reflection, mental tranquility and personal embodied verification has long been simplistically categorized as mystical experience or empty philosophy. This paper aims to sort out this neglected cognitive approach into a rigorous academic paradigm worthy of serious discussion. Centering on three core themes, this research firstly refines the core connotation of the paradigm from historical context. Despite diverse practical paths, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism share an identical underlying cognitive structure: turning cognitive orientation from external pursuit to internal exploration, and shifting from conceptual speculation to personal experiential verification, which lays a solid historical foundation for introverted empiricism. Secondly, it conducts epistemological justification for inner verification and establishes public inspectable verification mechanisms. Against the core doubt of solipsism, this study holds that the truth value of body-state knowledge derived from inner verification lies in stable and repeatable life transformation rather than correspondence with external facts. On this basis, it attempts to build a modern community of inner evidence to realize inter-subjective inspection and confirmation of private inner experiences. Thirdly, it clarifies the boundary of this paradigm and launches interdisciplinary dialogues. Strictly confined within the scope of epistemology and methodology without presupposing supernatural entities, this paradigm is distinctly separated from religious mysticism, and carries out equal academic communication with phenomenology, embodied cognition and cognitive neuroscience, confirming its legitimate status as a long-overlooked vital dimension of human cognition. This paper finally argues that Eastern introverted empiricism is not metaphysical speculation, but a rigorous cognitive system featuring trainability, repeatability and mutual verification. Its theoretical construction not only promotes the modern transformation of traditional culture, but also provides distinctive Eastern ideological references for contemporary psychosomatic medicine, cognitive science and the predicament of modernity.