Intuition: Epistemology | WIRELESS PHILOSOPHY

What makes a judgment count as intuitive? How is intuition different from perception and reasoning? In this Wireless Philosophy video, Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto) examines the nature of intuition and the role played by intuitions in philosophy.

Subscribe!

More on Jennifer Nagel:

----

Wi-Phi @ YouTube:

Wi-Phi @ Khan Academy:

Twitter:

Facebook:

Instagram:
@wiphiofficial

----

Help us caption & translate this video!

[trishrochelle]

As a philosophy major and lover of the subject for over a decade this video is just top notch. This is the most succinct, educational and informative video I've found in all of YouTube about intuition so far! Thank you so much for this and much respect, Prof. Nagel!

[highground]

Love how Socrates (Plato) thought of the gettier problem even in ancient times!
I love the Socratic philosophers and ppl around me say things like how they’re outdated and there are modern philosophers now but this fact begs to differ!

[cubefox]

I think it's very important to distinguish different types of intuition rather than lumping them all together. E.g. mathematical intuition could work very different from conceptual intuition. And conceptual intuition (e.g. about what counts as "knowledge") could be yet different from moral intuition. Maybe psychologists do not even talk about the same types of intuition as philosophers.

[lovestylefarms]

My intuition is telling me you can’t do all that artwork with a sharpie.

[DrINTJ]

Carl Jung (mostly influenced by Kant and his own investigation) divided the functions as so:

Reasoning/Judging functions: Thought and feeling
Irrational perception functions: intuition and sensory perception

He also talked about about intuitive thinking as a basic form of judgement that is more intuition than reasoning.

People often neglect to talk about feeling judgement as a valid form of reasoning and lump it with either emotional reaction or thinking.

[xxcaymanxx]

I suggest Daniel Kahnemann's "Thinking, Fast and Slow". It's a nice read about these two kinds of thinking and particularly the biases of intuitive judgment

[kmdash]

In religious and philosophical writing, there seems to be a notion that intuition is by definition true. In religious writings in Vedic texts, intuition seems to be something like a message from the gods, while in the Upanashads it's a connection with some mystic truth deep within us.
Plato l, Aristotle, and even later Decartes seemed to echo this. Aristotle's process of perception, recollection, experience, and intuition for getting at knowledge seems to suggest that intuition is just this thing that happens, and Descartes called it the "light of reason." Plato seemed to suggest that when it comes to axioms and self-evident truths, you just know it.
Of course, this requires intellectual honesty. But it seems like philosophers and mystics seem to say that intuition is the basis for knowledge, as they allow us to understand things that go beyond reason and open the door to self-evident truths. But it can't be "trained, " and is not identical to reason.

[emanuelgoxha]

according to me, intuition is a conclusion of thoughts. when we try to solve problems, we think about it and we find the solution of the problem. we just keep in memory the solution of problem and forget how we solve that.

[Height]

Doesn't it make most sense to see Intuition as a shortcut for Reason?

You cannot intuitively know that 5x11 is 55 if you have never done multiplication before, therefore intuition is based on previous knowledge. You won't have to do the reasoned steps, since you already recognized the pattern (multiplication) and have therefore sidestepped having to consciously reason what will happen, because you already know. So you take a short cut to the answer, Intuition.

[ritimasahikiya]

This is so concise, yet elaborate and titillating! Thank you Prof Nagel.

[robtalbot]

No Circle is a Square?

What is a circle ? // what is a square ?

Can a circle (at the limit) enclose zero area?
Can a square (at the limit) enclose zero area?

Is a "zero area circle" in fact also a "zero area square"?

[gillapfi]

I think the reason intuition sometimes fails can be understood in terms of a probe analogy (using an object to learn about another object).... intuition is like a large granular probe that can give you certain information but not the finer details for which you would need a smaller, finer probe. It simply works in some but not all cases requiring a check or supplement system (or a finer probe).

[unfluster]

Good if listened to a little at a time. I had to watch it a few times just to put it all together.

[Sam_on_YouTube]

It is not always the case that a triangle is not a circle. It is true in Euclidian space, which is what the world around us looks like and hence the way our intuitiom developed. But in spherical space, like the surface of the Earth, three equidistant points along the equator are connected by a triangle thqt is also a perfect circle. Move those points closer and closer together and take them out of alignment and you get a triangle with angles that approach 180 degrees, which is the triangle of our intuition. But the definition of a triangle, generalized into a situation where our intuition is not developed and you get an answer that intuition falsely tells us is wrong.

Intuition is data. It needs to be explained by any theory. But that doesn't mean the explanation needs to be that the intuition has to be correct. Why doesn't quantum mechanics fit our intuition? Because the weirdness of quantum mechanics averages out into a world approximating Newtonian physics in our everyday experiences. Same for relativity. When String Theory first proposed 26 (later 11) dimensions, the first thing the theorists had to do was explain why our intuition has only 3 dimensions of space and 1 of time. (They managed to do that, but the harder problem turned out to be coming up with a way to test it.)

[sharemarketkoninja]

I got sudden need to save 3000 dollar in january 2021. And in april 2021 i was admitted in hospital for 10 days for covid 19, when i payed 2000 dollar to hospital.. i guess something from inside advised me to save that 3000 dollar cause i was about to need money in couple of months.
Is it intuition?
Other event like this have also happen in my life many times. I just get helpful advice from inside.

[punlovincriminal]

How do I know that this video is true?.

Edit: Doesn't matter, I will trust my instinct.

[onacarommusic]

Actually it amazes me to think that everything is formula, we, everything, therefore philosophy is also a formula;
exterior + (interior x dimensions)

[Akixkisu]

Thank you for providing quality content.

[cliffordhodge]

It seems that if intuition is to be a valuable concept, within the parameters given here, it must be seen as either an innate idea, as (I claim) with the square circle, or one which is incapable of being doubted, as in the Cogito.

[colubrinedeucecreative]

Thanks so much. I hadn't realized I was thinking it was from the same kind of source, I would guess that comes from religious teachings or the like?
If one is wise, they are aware that they will have intuition about something and be careful as it might be personal bias and test against it.
But largely it will be pattern based and our brains are smoothing over the lack of information, rather than there being some kind of guidance from external sources.
As I am older, I am really struggling, mentally I just don't recall much of anything, but that doesn't mean I don't know it at some level so I might not be readily conscious of it but it seems like the test of it brings it out of me.
Otherwise I will just be frustrated because I should know it and yet don't. It is also dangerous in that I might miss steps, or remember outcomes rather than the totality of the journey and find myself committing similar errors.
Arg