Intuition and introspection

Hans Julius Schneider
Table of contents

In the philosophical tradition the word ‘intuition’ designates an uninferred or immediate kind of knowledge or apprehension, as opposed to discursive knowledge, mediated by accepted methods of demonstration. Intuitive knowledge (the content of which can be sensible and/or intellectual) has often been taken to be the epistemological basis of discursive knowledge; e.g. a person’s knowledge of his/her ‘sense data’ (that P now has a patch of blue in his/her visual field) or of axiomatic principles (that every event has a cause) was taken to be so unquestionable, so direct, and so basic as to be unable of being grounded in foundations of any other kind. On the other hand, since a tradition going back to Aristotle demands that knowledge has to be related to reasoning, the existence of intuitive knowledge seemed to be in need of explanation (for general treatments of the topic, see Bunge 1962; Hart et al. 1949; Kobusch 1976; Schlick 1979).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Bunge, M.
1962Intuition and science. Prentice-Hall. Google Scholar
Carnap, R.
1952Meaning postulates. Philosophical Studies 3:65–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hart, H. L. A. & G. E. Hughes & J.N Findley
1949Symposium: Is there knowledge by acquaintance? Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplement, 23: 69–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kobusch, T.
1976Intuition. In J. Ritter & K. Gründer (eds.) Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie, vol.4: 524–540. Schwabe & Co. Google Scholar
Peirce, C. S.
1935.Harvard University Press Collected papers, vol 5Google Scholar
Rorty, R.
1967The encyclopedia of philosophy. In Edwards P. (ed.) vol 4.: 204–212. Macmillan. Google Scholar
Russell, B.
1912The problems of philosophyOxford University Press. Google Scholar
Ryle, G.
1949The concept of mind. Hutchinson. Google Scholar
Schlick, M.
1979Is there intuitive knowledge? In M. Schlick, Philosophical papers 1 (1909–1922): 141–152. Reidel. Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, L.
1953Philosophical investigations. Macmillan. Google Scholar