What is Intuitionism?

Intuitionism Trends of thought and doctrine that emphasize the role of intuition or intuition in cognition. Think of intuition as a more basic and reliable way of understanding the world than abstract reason. This doctrine or trend of thought usually carries a strong tendency towards anti-rationalism, anti-positivism, and anti-materialism. Many philosophers in history valued intuition, but it did not really become a doctrine or trend of thought until the early 20th century. Typical intuitionists are H. Bergson, B. Croce, E. Husserl, and others.

In 1927,

Intuitionism believes that experience and reason cannot give people real knowledge, only the mysterious inner experience

A distinctive feature of intuitionism is that it has more branches. mainly include:
Bergson's Intuitionism <br /> Bergson sees intuition and analysis as two fundamentally different ways of knowing. He pointed out that intuition is the ultimate non-conceptual knowledge that enables one to experience the state of mind and insight into the movement of things themselves. Bergson's esteemed instincts have an anti-rational mysticism.
Croce's Intuition <br /> Krozi pointed out,

Intuitionism is a kind of irrational epistemology, which makes the linearity in the process of cognition absolute and understands intuition as an irrational cognitive activity.
Intuitionists oppose intuition and rational thinking, advocate the former's cognitive function, and anti-rationalism. Intuition is a super-rational or anti-rational cognitive ability.

Bergson's philosophy of life is closely related to his anti-rationalist intuitionism. His philosophy of life provided the theoretical basis for anti-rationalist intuitionism, and his intuitionism provided a method for his philosophy of life.

The research object of philosophy is different from natural science. Natural science is the study of external dead matter, so it can be studied by rational forms such as concepts and judgments. Philosophical research is the essence and real reality of the universe. This essence and reality is a kind of endless movement, endless movement, and flow of life. Therefore, the rational and scientific rational knowledge cannot understand the nature of this universe. It can only be grasped through an inner experience, a mysterious intuition.

The main reasons why reason cannot understand the nature of the world are:

(1) Reason is superficial. Rational knowledge always stands outside things and describes things. What it obtains is not the internal essence of things, but the external portraits of things, and the causality in the space of things. For example, he said that if a person wants to understand a city, he only takes pictures on the periphery of the city. Although he takes pictures from countless different observation points, and the pictures can complement each other, the impression he gets will always be the city On the surface, the impression we get from walking through the streets in this city will never be exactly the same. Rational understanding is like this person who is taking pictures outside the city. It always turns around the reality and cannot grasp the reality.

(2) Intellectual knowledge is an analytical knowledge. Analysis is the decomposition of the whole into its parts, which can be done for the natural world in space, external, separable, and material, but not for indivisible, internal life outside of space. Did it. He also gave an example, when you raise your arm, if you want to know the movement of the arm with reason, but the method of understanding is to observe the movement of the arm from the outside, your arm passes one point first, and then another point , And there are other points between these two points, even if this infinite number continues, you can not grasp the movement. Because in this way, the "absolute" movement becomes a gold coin that can never be calculated with loose change. But if you experience this movement from the inside, the problem is much simpler, and you can grasp the "absolute" at once.

(3) Intellectual knowledge is a static knowledge. Reason must be used for judgment and reasoning, and concepts are zombie symbols, which are fixed and stationary. Therefore, reason is to understand what is moving (flow of life) from the immobile (concept). Understand motion as a function of immovability, and use static to express motion, of course, you cannot grasp the actual motion. This is like weaving a net with a concept, trying to get something out of the real river that flows endlessly. As a result, the true essence of reality, the extension, is missed, and it can only be empty.

(4) Intellectual knowledge is governed by utilitarianism. Pursuing practical knowledge, it is impossible to obtain absolute knowledge about reality. Scientific and rational knowledge is not for the sake of understanding, but for the sake of practical benefits. It does not treat the various impressions presented in our consciousness equally, but takes them according to our material interests. Therefore, what is obtained by rational knowledge is not real actual knowledge, but only a practical artificial structure. Of course, everyday things need practical things. However, if philosophers adopt external cognitive methods based on their own interests, they will inevitably quarrel and cannot have a true philosophy.

Therefore, Bergson concluded that scientific or rational knowledge can only know the material world and illusions, and obtain temporary relative truth, but not life (spiritual), eternal absolute truth, or the essence of the world. He wrote: "The function of empirical science is analysis, which is the use of symbols for research. Therefore, even the most specific science in the natural sciences, the science of life, can only be limited to studying the visible forms of living beings, their organs. Comparing these forms with anatomical elements, reducing complex forms to simple forms ... they can never grasp the essence of life. "And he said: the characteristic of reason is that it is inherently incomprehensible. life.

Bergson advocated intuitionism on the basis of refuting rationalism. Only intuition is the only tool to grasp or understand the nature of the universe, namely life or absolute truth. Intuition refers to using the life of oneself to penetrate into the inner life of the subject, so as to achieve the fusion of the flow of life. He said: "The so-called intuition is a kind of intellectual blending, which puts people in the object themselves in order to conform to the unique and therefore unexpressible things." "This method absolutely grasps the reality Instead of relatively realizing reality, it puts people in reality rather than observing reality from an external point of view. It relies on intuition rather than analysis. In short, it does not use any expression, reproduction or symbolic portrait To grasp reality. Therefore, metaphysics is a science without symbols. "According to Bergson, intuition is another cognitive activity that is different from logical reason. In the traditional sense, rational understanding is the grasp of the subject by the subject. Whether it is to perceive and express through the senses, or to induct or synthesize through reason, or to use category and schema to control and organize, it is the subject to understand and describe from the outside. , Research, and explain the object, therefore, the communication between the subject and the object must be bridged by some kind of intermediary, that is, the symbol. Since a specific symbolic expression is used, this kind of understanding is always carried out from a certain angle, or for a certain aspect of the object, and the result can only be a relative understanding. Intuition is different, it directly fuses subject and object. When the subject and the object reach a certain indiscriminate realm, our cognition reaches the absolute realm, that is, the realm of motion change, extension, and impulsive life. What intuition requires is an effort of will, which makes the human mind violate itself and reverses the habitual direction of rational thinking, beyond the scope of perceptual experience, rational knowledge and practice, and abandons all concepts, judgments, and inferences And other logical forms of thinking, of course, the results do not require any expression. So Bergson said that true philosophy is a science without symbols.

Bergson acknowledges that it is difficult for people to get rid of emotional and rational ways of thinking, and it is difficult to directly observe objects without any concept, judgment, reasoning, or even any symbol. However, can people use intuitive methods to grasp or understand life and extension? Everyone can have intuitive consciousness, because the generation of intuition is related to people's memory. After Bergson made a special study of memory, he pointed out that memory does not originate from matter, and it exists independently. The reason is: memory and feeling are two different things. The sensed objects are all things that exist directly at the moment, occupying space and being measurable, so they are derived from the material; while memory is the preservation of past images, it is a potential, free from any concrete material things. Memory is the intersection of matter and spirit. It unites matter and spirit. It does not belong to matter itself. But in consciousness, pure perception and pure memory are constantly infiltrating into each other, so that people cannot distinguish between their different roles. In fact, only memory is the source of intuition. Memory is also related to the extension of time. There is nothing reproducible in memory, it records every moment of the continuous, they are unique and heterogeneous. But memory does not store each moment in a separated way, but lets them roll and flow, like a picture scroll unfolding continuously, and like a coil of coils going around, the past consciousness is contained in the present In the consciousness. Therefore, when we are facing something, the tens of thousands of past events kept in our memory and the current experience infiltrate each other, pile up continuously, and finally condense into a single intuition. At this moment, a complete consciousness of things is generated. From this point of view, since the existence of everyone's consciousness is inseparable from memory, intuition must also be underlying in everyone's consciousness, but ordinary people are used to rational thinking and have not paid attention to exerting this intuition. As long as our mind can disobey itself and make efforts beyond human conditions, we can use intuition to understand reality.

As a way of knowing, intuition also requires certain conditions for its realization. Bergson explored this issue in more detail by analyzing the process of artistic creation. First of all, in order to gain intuition about reality, it is necessary to have a long-term, large-scale contact with the external expression of reality, and use the subjective feelings obtained from the contact as material to understand the secret of reality. It's as if you want to create a literary work, you must be familiar with the subject and collect material from real life. Only on the basis of accumulation can inspiration emerge. Secondly, it is not enough just to master a lot of materials, because the simple stacking of materials is not a real work of art. The intuition depends on the exertion of imagination. Imagination is an important prerequisite for artistic creation, and works without imagination are by no means good works. Imagination can bring us to the inside of the object, make us integrate with the object, and reach the realm of the material and me. In this realm, intuition can fully experience the true truth. The so-called imagination mainly refers to the subject's inner observation of the self; the so-called experience mainly refers to the subject's perception of the flow of self-consciousness; Therefore, the source of artistic creation ultimately lies in the inner conflict of the self, and the external real life in art is but a derivative of spiritual passion. For example, an artist is often infected with the inner spirit of nature to make genius works. Its beauty is the embodiment of the inner spirit of nature, and the product of the blend of the author and the life of the subject. Thirdly, the realization of intuition depends on the aesthetic attitude beyond reason. In understanding, reason does not go straight to the true nature of the object, but overlays the preconceived ideas of utilitarianism and a large number of concepts and labels on the object, obscuring the original appearance of the object. Therefore, if we want to grasp reality, we must "deceive the mind" and abandon the conceptual terms of reason, regardless of the good or bad of things, and use only pure aesthetic eyes to observe and experience things. As an artist, you only need to pay attention to the subjective feelings caused by the changes of the objects, and express your feelings with your own works. Everything else can be ignored. Only this absolutely transcendental aesthetic attitude can bring real art.

Intuitionism is a central issue in Bergson's philosophy. It has a significant influence on the later schools of humanistic thought, and has a significant impact on some of the current schools of scientism, such as Popper's critical rationalism, Kuhn's historicism, and so on. School art also has a profound influence. ^[1]

In mathematical philosophy and logic, intuitionism , or neo-intuitionism (corresponding to pre-intuitionism), is a method of mathematical research using human constructive thinking activities. Can also be translated into intuitionism .

Any mathematical object is regarded as the product of thought construction, so the existence of an object is equivalent to the possibility of its construction. This is different from the classical method, because according to the classical method, the existence of an entity can be proved by negating its non-existence. To the intuitionist, this is incorrect: the negation of non-existence does not mean that a structural proof of existence may be found. Because of this, intuitionism is a type of mathematical structuralism; but it is not the only type.

Intuitionism equates the correctness of a mathematical proposition with that which can be proved; if the mathematical object is purely a spiritual construct, what other rules can be used as a test of authenticity (as intuitionists would argue)? This means that the meaning of a mathematical proposition by an intuitionist may differ from that of a classical mathematician. For example, say A or B. For an intuitionist, it is claimed that either A or B can be "proved", not one of them is "true." It is worth mentioning that only A or non- A exclusion is allowed in intuitionistic logic; because one cannot assume that one can always prove Proposition A or its negative proposition.

Intuitionism also refuses to acknowledge the abstract concept of real infinity; that is, it does not consider infinities such as the set of all natural numbers or the sequence of any rational number as entities. This requires rebuilding the foundations of set theory and calculus into constructivist set theory and constructivist analysis, respectively.