Talk:Intuition (knowledge)

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Contents 1 Some new information 2 Disputed warning, Intuition is a source of empirical knowledge 3 Some references for editing 4 Page move 5 Nonsense 6 Psychology Section 7 Proposal to split this article - Feb 9/2007 8 Intuition in Religion 9 Taxi driver intuition 10 Wow- so not neutral.

[edit] Some new information

There is some work by Hope K Fitz on Intuition. She is a Philosophy Prof out of East Conneticut University. She would be critical of some of the claims in this article. I do not have time to expand on her work, but I think it is impressive. Her ideas derive out Western and Eastern (Indian) philosophical tranditions. Her central claims are that:

1) Intuition is not a form knowledge - but a means to knowledge 2) It is an integral process of the mind that cumulates in the process of insight 3) The process involves reasoning, but the end result (insight)does not

I have to say on a personal note that the use of the work by psychologists (and I have to say my research in this area is too flimsy for this statement to be categorical) is that they seriously abuse the term. There is a difference between the inuitive experience discussed by the likes of Henri Poincare who describes years of effort leading to a flash of understanding (this I believe is Fitz's view) and some of the psychology experiments I have read, which appear to be more experiments in instant perception. In general the Poincare view seems to describe the common experience of creative people.

One thing the current article does not cover is the work of Henri Bergson on this subject and that of Pantanjali (Yoga Sutras).

Hope this helps. If I get time I will add to this.Dave Catlin 08:25, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Disputed warning, Intuition is a source of empirical knowledge

Heidimo, I have given this article a disputed warning because, to me, what you write sounds very untrue to me. For example, I develop intuition in chess by playing and observing (empiry), not the other way round. It is the experience that gives me intuition. Andries 19:51, 16 May 2004 (UTC)

I didn't make it up. I now remember that I read it in a chess book somewhere. See also Andries 08:39, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

How can intuition be a source of empirical knowledge? Because it helps in in inductive reasoning? Can somebody please explain? Thanks in advance. Andries 18:48, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

• Not sure (I didn't write that) but I think this is an opinion by some religious or philosophical group. I have heard similar things from people interested in Chinese philosophy. Might deserve mentioning but not as the only definition and a source should be given. 192.16.204.78 19:08, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

Andries, you are attributing something to me that I did not write. Why can't you integrate your viewpoint into the article without removing another viewpoint? Why create a dispute? Contention is unnecessary. heidimo 04:37, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

I will try very soon. Please be patient. But before I have done that I think it is better to included a disputed warning because I don't want the readers of Wikipedia to be misled. Andries 20:04, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

I like the way the current article reads. Thanks Andries and Heidimo for working on this. Jake 20:28, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

thanks Jake, I want to write that ituition may be influenced by wishful thinking if I can find a referenced source for it. This is my strong belief based on my own unfortunate experience. Do you think that this is a good idea? Andries 20:41, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, Jake, but I don't think I can take much credit for this article. heidimo 22:00, 3 Jun 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Some references for editing

Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08082b.htm
Britannica 1911 http://16.1911encyclopedia.org/I/IN/INTUITION.htm

[edit] Page move

The page was a sort of halfway house between disambiguation page and article. So I've moved it, and used the old Intuition article as a proper dab page. I haven't removed the clean up tag because this article does still need a lot of work. - Motor (talk) 14:34, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nonsense

Is it just me, or does this article entirely violate neutral point of view? I mean, come on, the biggest enemy to social science? And the bit about assuming it is wrong seems like rubbish to me. Intuition is not at all inherently wrong, it just may not represent a full picture or may be based on a feeling, rather than a logical conclusion. I strongly recommend the article be substantially revised, even rewritten. Nicholasink 01:57, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Psychology Section

I am new to Wikipedia so forgive me if I am doing anything wrong. I am a graduate student studying intuition, and I think this article needs a lot of work. I would like to contribute to that work. One major thing which I think would be useful is a psychology heading. Much work has been done in intuition by people like Westcott, Bastick, Eysenck, and many others, in the psychology domain. I will put some thought into this and add a section in a few days, if that's OK with everyone. I think much of this article is a bit vague and not clearly written, so I'd like to help with that too. Phronk 00:31, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, you can do that. Just edit the page. And don't forget to sign your posts with ~~~~. —The-thing (Talk) (Stuff I did) 23:50, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposal to split this article - Feb 9/2007

Ed Poor has just tagged this page with a rewrite template, on the grounds that the intro is imprecise. I think the real problem is that the article needs to be split into several articles. It seems to me that the intro is OK if one is talking about intuition as it is understood by academic philosophers. Unfortunately, the word "intuition" is used in so many different contexts that no single lead paragraph can reasonably encompass them all. Any suggestions for what titles separate articles should have? -- WikiPedant 21:41, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

I dunno, I better sleep on it. I need to give my powers of intuition a chance to work on this. ;-) --Uncle Ed 21:53, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

(User:Gofigure1998) I think part of the problem is that "intuition" has multiple levels of meaning. In western culture intuition is used synonymously with the term "hunch" and is considered unreliable or imaginary. In the east, by contrast, intuition is more clearly defined and is different from being superstitious or having a "hunch". The basic problem is the contamination of our "hunches" with our own opinions, ideas or past experience. By contrast, true intuition is a stable, reliable function of higher levels of consciousness. High level intution can be used to be creative in the external world....but can also be used to grasp the innermost nature of our being. This latter use, one which is highly developed in the east, can be used to deepen one's own level of consciousness and can be used to integrate the intellect and emotional aspects of our being. High level intuition can appear naturally and in some people is present at an early age. But this same high level intution can be developed and cultured through the practice of meditation and other internal practices. For those gifted with naturally occuring high level intuition the whole process seems random....but for those who meditate or do other internal practices the process of developing high level intuition is a gradual unfoldment, access to which is more systematic attained. 9:51 February 11, 2007

So, Gofigure1998, getting back to the topic, do you favor splitting this article or not? -- WikiPedant 21:05, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm in favour of the split. We need separate Intuition (psychology) and Intuition (philosophy) pages, as well as the current page which can be for the layman's use of the term intuition. The main (disambiguation) page at Intuition should also be updated. -- TimNelson 02:04, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello TimNelson -- I agree with creating Intuition (psychology) and Intuition (philosophy) pages. I'm less certain about leaving the current Intuition (knowledge) page as a catch-all for layman's uses of the term. I think it is controversial to assume that layman's uses all treat intuition as a kind of knowledge. In everyday English, "intuition" can mean "hunch" or "gut feeling", and I'm not so sure that those are names of kinds of knowledge. -- WikiPedant 04:23, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi, all. My interest is in any kind of perception or discovery which is not based purely on conscious thought or analysis. I came to the article from reading about "women's intution". But I'm sure both sexes have the faculty.

Like a hunch that someone is untrustworthy, but you can't quite "put your finger on it". Then you find out later he was arrested for embezzlement. The concept figures frequently in literature, but is there any actual research on it? Eric Berne claimed to be able to figure out the civilian occupation of military men simply be chatting with them a few minutes, and IIRC he attributed this to intuition. --Uncle Ed 20:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Joining this discussion so late, I don't know if anybody will even see this. I have read numerous boards on a myriad of topics, and this is the first one I felt compelled to respond to. First I'd like to begin by expressing how much I enjoyed and appreciated the comments by "gofigure", it was the first intelligent response I read. Secondly, and I should say lastly, who are the people on this board with only negative comments? What, do you sit around looking for topics you feel comfortable bashing, yet you really have no knowledge or experience on the actual subject? If you had any idea what it means to be intuitive, if you had ever experienced it, you wouldn't be capable of making such comments. It is not a hunch, you don't base your answer off of any already known idea, you just know. Without even thinking, guessing etc. It's not just answering questions, it's reading situations in an instant, it's knowing everything about a persons character before your even introduced. I shouldn't say everything, but it's 80% more than your spouse or friend will ever know for months, even years about that person. That's it, I'm done raving. Goodnight everyone. jlo1

[edit] Intuition in Religion

Reference to intuition can be found in many religions like Hinduism,Christianity,Sikhism and others.

For example in Christianity(New Testament)we have the story of 'Last Supper'.

In Hinduism one finds reference and incidents related to intuition in mythology and life of many saints like Tukaram,Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa,Sai baba of Sirdi and others.

In Sikhism we have incidents relating intuition with regard to life of Guru Nanak.

--Badshah165 13:35, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Taxi driver intuition

I would love to see the results of any academic study of this, women's intuition, and the techniques that Kreskin uses mentioned in the article. I can assure you that Taxi driver intuition exists. It's when the driver often can tell where people want to go with little or no information, etc. Greg Bard 01:49, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wow- so not neutral.

In one paragraph we talk about law enforcement "intuition"- and then not one bit of all the evidence that suggests that intuition is just a reinforcement of bias? Nothing that shows just how many law enforcement officers have "intuited" someone was a criminal and then were found to be wrong, often with deadly consequences? Wow. 206.218.218.58 (talk) 16:09, 7 March 2008 (UTC)