Intuition

Intuition, in philosophy, a form of knowledge or of cognition independent of experience or reason. The intuitive faculty and intuitive knowledge are generally regarded as inherent qualities of the mind. The term intuition has been used in different, sometimes opposing, senses by various writers and cannot be defined except with reference to its meaning in the writings of an individual philosopher. The concept of intuition apparently arose from two sources: the mathematical idea of an axiom (a self-evident proposition that requires no proof) and the mystical idea of revelation (truth that surpasses the power of the intellect).

Intuition was important in Greek philosophy, particularly in the thinking of such philosophers as Pythagoras and his followers, who were trained in mathematics. The concept also had great significance in much of Christian philosophy as one of the basic ways in which a person could know God. The philosophers who relied most on the idea of intuition were Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, and Henri Bergson.

In Spinoza's philosophy, intuition is the highest form of knowledge, surpassing both empirical knowledge derived from the senses and “scientific” knowledge derived from reasoning on the basis of experience. Intuitive knowledge gives an individual the comprehension of an orderly and united universe and permits the mind to be a part of the Infinite Being.

Kant regarded intuition as the portion of a perception that is supplied by the mind itself. He divided perceptions, or “phenomena”, into two parts: the sensation caused by the external object perceived; and the “form”, or the understanding of the perception in the mind, which results from intuition. Such apprehension as space and time are types of pure intuition, or Anschauung.

Bergson contrasted instinct with intelligence and regarded intuition as the purest form of instinct. Intelligence, he believed, was adequate for the consideration of material things but could not deal with the fundamental nature of life or thought. He defined intuition as “instinct that has become disinterested, self-conscious, capable of reflecting upon its object and of enlarging it indefinitely”. Intelligence, on the other hand, can only analyse, and the function of analysis is to produce what is relative in an object, rather than what is absolute, or individual. Only by intuition, Bergson declared, can the absolute be comprehended.

Some ethical philosophers, among them Spinoza, have been called intuitionists or intuitionalists because of their belief that a sense of moral values is intuitive and immediate. This view contrasts with that of the empiricists, who hold that moral values result from human experience alone, and that of the rationalists, who believe that moral values are determined solely by reason.