Intuition

Intuition is a concept with a number of meanings. It derives from the Latin in-tueri: knowing from within, that is, by contemplation. Intuition is a mode of perceiving objects, concepts, and ideas through direct apperception, as when people refer to having had an insight or illumination. In modern psychological approaches to various processes of judgment, intuition, in contrast with analytical thought, is described as a fast and instant thought process that does not demand mental effort, is not necessarily conscious, and allows neither description nor explanation. One illustration is constituted by heuristic processes, which are a type of unexplained rules of thumb that allow us to make various judgments, including perceptual judgments, rapidly. Another common description of intuition is “just having a hunch.”

Intuition and time are related in both directions: On one hand, we can examine the role of intuition in the processes that lead to time perception and perception of duration, while on the other, we can observe the role of time in intuitive processes themselves.

Time is a key dimension to which every living creature must relate in order to adapt to its environment. Nevertheless, in the absence of any specifically defined perceptual apparatus for duration perception, on one hand, and, on the other, of any specific stimulus that represents temporal duration, the question arises of how time apperception occurs. Though this question is relevant in relation to any living creature, it is especially so to human beings due to their awareness of time. This is why philosophers have always wondered about [Page 718]the nature of time and about how the sense and consciousness of time and duration emerge.

An early example of this can be found in Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430), who deals with the question of time in the sixth book of his Confessions. He argues that, when not asked about the nature of time, he knew the nature of time; however, when asked to explain, he was unable to explain. His text suggests that time is a type of primary experience that we cannot explain. That is to say, time is not experienced as the product of higher-order cognitive activity. Indeed, some major philosophers share a notion of time as a primary intuitive concept.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) held that time and space are two major intuitions of the human mind. He rejected doctrines like Gottfried Leibniz's, according to which experience is characterized by an inherent rationality. Kant argued that time and space are a priori categories necessary for human experience to occur. As such, he thought time and space to be enabling conditions of the human mode of experience. Time is not a real feature of things-in-themselves but rather a structure of the knowing mind.

Henri Bergson (1859–1941) rejected Kantian idealism but still associated time with intuition. He distinguished between an intuitive and an analytical mode of thinking. Intuition, for Bergson, yields metaphysical knowledge of reality as time, change, and creative evolution, which is certain knowledge. Reason, on the other hand, does not render absolute knowledge about reality but only relative knowledge about the material objects of science and experience. If reality is in fluxthat is, not staticthen for Bergson it is intuition that gives us this awareness of time and change as creative evolution.

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