Does anyone value intuition and non rational thought anymore?

Question

Have we divided our society into two groups? Those who are rational empiricists and will not believe anything that they cannot observe and test OR those who are written off as fools, mentally deficient, or mentally ill? Is there no room for both reasoned thought and intuition? Must all truth come from a base of reason and rationality to the exclusion of non rational thinking? Does anyone else make a distinction between non rational and irrational thoughts or ideas? I think we are missing something if we deny what we might be sensed on a non rational and intuitive level.

Answer 1

Our guide is Giambattista Vico, and also the thinkers of the German Counter-Enlightenment, like Johann Georg Hamann. Vico gave us his verum factum principle and a compelling cyclic view of history which elevates the status of poetry.

The vociferous zealots of rational empiricism here on Yahoo Answers are easy to spot, and I admit a guilty pleasure in making fun of them, as they seem so eager to attack at any appearance of their holy idiom of Proof, Theory, Fact, ect.

Answer 2

First, it seems as though you may be mixed up in terminology. One can be rational and not be an empiricist (rationalists like Descartes) and one can be an empiricist without being rational. Empiricists, very roughly, claim that a significant portion of our body of knowledge is given to us by experience as opposed to reason alone. Those who claim that we can come to know things by reason alone, or a priori, are rationalists.

Second, and to answer your question, reason and intuition are not mutually exclusive. In the field of philosophy and many of the sciences an expert (a scientist or a philosopher) is trained to have the right intuitions from which he or she comes up with a hypothesis. This hypothesis is then run through experiments or arguments which act as a sort of test for the intuition. Many great intellectual achievements have begun with intuitions.

Intuition is not necessarily irrational. If one had two different intuitions, resulting in two conflicting beliefs and one held both of the beliefs, then one would be irrational. Irrationality is more of a statement about the coherence of one's beliefs than about the method one uses to acquire such beliefs.

Now, intuition certainly wouldn't count as providing one knowledge. One can't say one knows 'X' when one's evidence for 'X' is merely intuition. But just because intuition doesn't directly result in knowledge does not mean it has no role in a knowledge-acquiring process.

Answer 3

Intuition or non rational thoughts are personal things. They can be proven to our own self and not to any one else. There is a hell lot of power in human brain that we do not use. Intuition at the outset may seem irrational, but it is actually an outcome of subconscious thinking.

Answer 4

I agree with you completely.

I left bothering with logic long ago. Intuition is the strongest teacher. It uses deductive reasoning that deals with encompassing answers or solutions from a broader perspective rather than the filtering out of absolutes.

Its micromanaging versus macromanaging lifes problems. I think the distinction is as strong as the difference between intelligence and wisdom. I chose to follow my intuition on many aspects and it's a lot easier to view things - from the mountain looking down.

I believe in a higher power, too. To me, that's the difference between Intellectuals and Philosophers.

Answer 5

Personally, I do value intuition and non-rational thought. Rational thinking is equally important though. I think we have to live with both and use both. Sometimes you just "feel" something that has no logic behind it and you can go with that and make decisions in life. I think being rational all the time is akin to being very uncreative. We need both these ways of thinking to have a balanced life.

Answer 6

Most of the greatest acheivements of the human race, science, engineering, cosmology, physics, etc, were acheived by people that most of the world considered irrational. and some were considered totally crazy for thinking the way they did,

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Answer 7

I gave intuition a try and I ended up being completely fooled by a clever women. She managed to duped my senses and make me belief what I wanted to believe. I will never trust my intution again, it's too easily manipulated by those who are clever.

Answer 8

damn since when is intuition irrational? its not some kind of spiritual shitt or sixth sense or whatever....

its on a continuous spectrum with logic....u cant draw the line anywhere.

Answer 9

Maybe in investments.

Answer 10

i have faith based on past experience that this will work out.