Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Discuss any topics related to metaphysics (the philosophical study of the principles of reality) or epistemology (the philosophical study of knowledge) in this forum.
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ThomasHobbes
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by ThomasHobbes »

Consul wrote: August 13th, 2018, 2:48 pm
ThomasHobbes wrote: August 13th, 2018, 2:05 pmBecause we no longer have to simply argue from experience. We have more scientific and empirical evidence. In Kant's time the brain was a total mystery.
The good old question as to what epistemic sources of belief-justification and knowledge there are is still with us. Obviously, the central source in empirical science is sensory perception/observation. (In psychology there is also introspection.)
There is also a greater understanding of constructive perception, and interesting studies in witness evidence that has shed light on how we build our world from our expectations.
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JamesOfSeattle
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by JamesOfSeattle »

Would it make any difference to this discussion to say that pure, non-sensory intuition becomes conscious in exactly the same way that sensory perception becomes conscious, and so is similar to the senses in the way it comes into consciousness?

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Karpel Tunnel
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Karpel Tunnel »

Consul wrote: August 13th, 2018, 2:48 pm Obviously, the central source in empirical science is sensory perception/observation. (In psychology there is also introspection.)
But then we choose where to observe and in what conditions, and in some sense have done this since birth, when we chose to focus on a face more than a pillow. And merely observing, I can't see how this would ever building up knowledge, alone. Something has to be sifting.

And then some people are better at deciding where to observe. This might be because of what they observed before, but often they are not conscious of exactly why they chose that line of observation and repitition. Sometimes, yes, it comes from trying out deductively reached hypotheses from current models. But there are people who are good at making leaps. It seems to me that is still black boxed.
Wayne92587
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Wayne92587 »

no longer have to simply argue from experience. We have more scientific and empirical evidence
I believe that intuition is a legitimate sense.
course, intuition is not always intuitive.

Some intuitive thought is illusional.

The Third Eye, sometimes called the Evil Eye causing mankind to act without thinking, the source of intuition.

Not all Realities are readily apparent, are not measurable as to location and momentum in Space-Time.

Intuition is to have a sense of these Realities without learning of them through experience.

I do not believe that Rationalization can be considered to be intuition.

Rationalization requires thought, Intuition does not.

Intuition may not recognize the subject for what it truly is, giving it a false name, identity.

I would say that the belief in God is intuitive.

There is something that exists, a Singularity from which the Heavens and the Earth, the Universe, the Reality of Everything that exists in the material sense of the word
was born.

As of late, the closest that Science has come to giving a correct name to this something is nothingness, The Great Void, The Darkness upon the Deep.

If man were to look upon the face of God he would be struck blind, for he would see nothing.

Intuition could be said to be a flash of insight, a person may have no idea where the thought came from, maybe from somewhere far-out in left field, or perhaps out of the clear blue sky, or appearing as if by magic.

Some believe that his or her muse gives them the insight.

A thought that you do not know the source of.
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Felix
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Felix »

Thinking critical: Precognition doesn't require an explanation as it is pseudoscience. As with all unfalsifiable claims precognition relies on ad hoc justification as a means to support it's own claims. Such claims have been debunked time and time again and can be demonstrated to be nothing more than mentalism, illusions and tricks.
Let me give you a concrete example: I do not have a fear of flying, but I have a strong anxiety about taking a particular plane flight I had booked. From past experience, I have learned to recognize this feeling as a warning not to proceed with the action I am contemplating. I do not get on the plane, and later I learn that the plane crashed.

Explain to me how this is an "accumulation of what my five senses have perceived"?
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
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Mark1955
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

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Felix wrote: August 22nd, 2018, 4:05 pm
Thinking critical: Precognition doesn't require an explanation as it is pseudoscience. As with all unfalsifiable claims precognition relies on ad hoc justification as a means to support it's own claims. Such claims have been debunked time and time again and can be demonstrated to be nothing more than mentalism, illusions and tricks.
Let me give you a concrete example: I do not have a fear of flying, but I have a strong anxiety about taking a particular plane flight I had booked. From past experience, I have learned to recognize this feeling as a warning not to proceed with the action I am contemplating. I do not get on the plane, and later I learn that the plane crashed.

Explain to me how this is an "accumulation of what my five senses have perceived"?
You say you recognise the feeling so it's occurred before. Now have you written down a list of every time you've had the feeling [at the time it occured] and the result, was your 'feeling' justified. Can you then analyse the data for a success percentage. If the answer is no then you are suffering from confirmation bias, you only remember the instances when your feeling was justified. The mind is not very clever it likes to solve problems with simples answers which it can apply to future situations. Sadly life isn't so simple or repetitive which is why we get so many things wrong.
If you think you know the answer you probably don't understand the question.
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Felix
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Felix »

You say you recognize the feeling so it's occurred before. Now have you written down a list of every time you've had the feeling [at the time it occurred] and the result, was your 'feeling' justified. Can you then analyse the data for a success percentage.
Well, this very strong "fight or flight" sort of feeling is a rare occurrence, has only happened to me twice in my life, but in those two instances it was an accurate weather vane. Weaker versions of the feeling, i.e., a vague uneasiness about doing something, have occurred more often but have been less reliable indicators. I suppose I could construct a bell curve on them.
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
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LuckyR
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by LuckyR »

Felix wrote: August 22nd, 2018, 4:29 pm
You say you recognize the feeling so it's occurred before. Now have you written down a list of every time you've had the feeling [at the time it occurred] and the result, was your 'feeling' justified. Can you then analyse the data for a success percentage.
Well, this very strong "fight or flight" sort of feeling is a rare occurrence, has only happened to me twice in my life, but in those two instances it was an accurate weather vane. Weaker versions of the feeling, i.e., a vague uneasiness about doing something, have occurred more often but have been less reliable indicators. I suppose I could construct a bell curve on them.
I personally think it is a very good idea to follow these "feelings". The mind is very good at pattern recognition, so through passive observation over a lifetime, the subconscious will warn the conscious mind when it recognizes a pattern that has led to a negative outcome in the past. The conscious mind is unaware of the pattern, the analysis or likely the historical events that made up the pattern.
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Sy Borg
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Sy Borg »

I agree, Lucky. As we all know, the nervous system absorbs and incredible amount of impressions, and the brain filters those impressions down to comprehensibility.

It's assumed that the brain simply discards all of the excess information but it's possible that a general impression of the "discarded information" is gleaned and this manifests as instinct. Unconscious knowledge that we don't know we possess until a suitable trigger unlocks it.
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ThomasHobbes
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by ThomasHobbes »

Greta wrote: August 23rd, 2018, 5:16 am I agree, Lucky. As we all know, the nervous system absorbs and incredible amount of impressions, and the brain filters those impressions down to comprehensibility.

It's assumed that the brain simply discards all of the excess information but it's possible that a general impression of the "discarded information" is gleaned and this manifests as instinct. Unconscious knowledge that we don't know we possess until a suitable trigger unlocks it.
You seem to be saying that "instinct" is something we store up from our experience.

"Instinct" is more usually assigned to skills we possess without ANY experience at all. They are the inborn features that each of us has due to genetic alone; such as a baby's ability to seek a nipple, or how a dog knows to shake its head when it has pray in its mouth. These baselines sets of pre-knowledge can be modified, but we call that learning.
Instincts are innate behaviours shared throughout a species.
For example when a human has a baby the release of hormones triggers an innate genetically defined "maternal instinct". It also explains the sex drive and many other non-rational responses.
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Thinking critical
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Thinking critical »

Felix wrote: August 22nd, 2018, 4:05 pm
Thinking critical: Precognition doesn't require an explanation as it is pseudoscience. As with all unfalsifiable claims precognition relies on ad hoc justification as a means to support it's own claims. Such claims have been debunked time and time again and can be demonstrated to be nothing more than mentalism, illusions and tricks.
Let me give you a concrete example: I do not have a fear of flying, but I have a strong anxiety about taking a particular plane flight I had booked. From past experience, I have learned to recognize this feeling as a warning not to proceed with the action I am contemplating. I do not get on the plane, and later I learn that the plane crashed.

Explain to me how this is an "accumulation of what my five senses have perceived"?
I'm certainly not questioning your experience, I accept that lots of people have these inclinations or feelings that potentially something undesirable (or desirable) is going to happen and then it comes to fruition. The fact that events seemingly coincide with each other now and again is not overly remarkable, it is in fact a statistical probability that sometimes, some people, will think of something that ends up happening. These moments may appear significant in hindsight, however people think, hope and have feelings or inclinations about things all the time, then when nothing comes of it the thought is often forgotten.

If this was something that people could do consistenly on command, then my scepticism would start to reside.

Furthermore when we examine the actual nature of the claim itself, to say that humans posses the ability to accurately predict the future, this would consequently force science to rewrite all most ever book that has ever been written regarding, biology, neurology and physics. If people do posses such abilities I wander why no one ever predicts natural disasters, mass shootings and terrorist attacks?
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Consul
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Consul »

LuckyR wrote: August 23rd, 2018, 1:59 amI personally think it is a very good idea to follow these "feelings".
What philosophers mean by "intuition" has nothing to do with (gut) feelings.
"We may philosophize well or ill, but we must philosophize." – Wilfrid Sellars
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LuckyR
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by LuckyR »

ThomasHobbes wrote: August 23rd, 2018, 5:41 am
Greta wrote: August 23rd, 2018, 5:16 am I agree, Lucky. As we all know, the nervous system absorbs and incredible amount of impressions, and the brain filters those impressions down to comprehensibility.

It's assumed that the brain simply discards all of the excess information but it's possible that a general impression of the "discarded information" is gleaned and this manifests as instinct. Unconscious knowledge that we don't know we possess until a suitable trigger unlocks it.
You seem to be saying that "instinct" is something we store up from our experience.

"Instinct" is more usually assigned to skills we possess without ANY experience at all. They are the inborn features that each of us has due to genetic alone; such as a baby's ability to seek a nipple, or how a dog knows to shake its head when it has pray in its mouth. These baselines sets of pre-knowledge can be modified, but we call that learning.
Instincts are innate behaviours shared throughout a species.
For example when a human has a baby the release of hormones triggers an innate genetically defined "maternal instinct". It also explains the sex drive and many other non-rational responses.
I completely agree, though others are also addressing the above situations, therefore I commented as well.
"As usual... it depends."
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LuckyR
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by LuckyR »

Consul wrote: August 23rd, 2018, 8:25 am
LuckyR wrote: August 23rd, 2018, 1:59 amI personally think it is a very good idea to follow these "feelings".
What philosophers mean by "intuition" has nothing to do with (gut) feelings.
Don't stop now, please enlighten us as to "what philosophers mean".
"As usual... it depends."
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Aragwen
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Re: Is intuition a legitimate sense?

Post by Aragwen »

1.“Judgment that is not made on the basis of some kind of observable and explicit reasoning process”
2.“An intellectual happening whereby it seems that something is the case without arising from reasoning, or sensorial perceiving, or remembering.”

I believe these are the most widely used beliefs used by philosophers as to what intuition is.
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