According to the three-systems model of Lang [ 5], the emotion of anxiety not only manifests itself in subjective feelings and thoughts and observable fight-flight-freeze behavior, but also in physical symptoms such as palpitations, trembling, and shortness of breath.
B. F. Skinner, in his 1957 book, "Verbal Behavior," had argued that language, like other behavior, could be described in physical, observable terms, without reference to thought or any other mental process.
A natural outgrowth of behaviourist theory was behaviour therapy, which rose to prominence after World War II and focused on modifying observable behaviour, rather than the thoughts and feelings of the patient (as in psychoanalysis).
To the question "What would be left over if all of the perceptible qualities were stripped (in thought) away from an observable object?" Mach and Avenarius answered, "Precisely nothing".
To the question "What would be left over if all of the perceptible qualities were stripped (in thought) away from an observable object?" Mach and Avenarius answered, "Precisely nothing". Thus, the concept of substance was declared not only superfluous but meaningless as well.
Even the thoughts you have are observable experiences.
As Mark Vernon has highlighted, just because a process of thought leading to action is observable in the brain before it appears in conscious awareness, that does not mean, as Blakemore appears to assume, that the brain is somehow independently directing that awareness, rendering the concept of free will obsolete.
It's full of observable symbolism and themes that stimulate critical thought and spark important conversations.
What is at stake here however is whether what one says corresponds with what one believes, which will remain out of sight whenever our thoughts do not translate into observable behavior.
Well, there are some things in human life that are not observable that are very important things like rational thought, whole segments of philosophy, mathematical reasoning.
