6. Intuition
When consciousness is engaged in holistic perception in this way, it is functioning intuitively, not intellectually. Orstein defines intuition as "knowledge without recourse to inference", i.e. simultaneous perception of the whole, in contrast to knowledge which is acquired logically and rationally, which "involves an analysis into discrete elements sequentially (inferentially) linked". To many people trained in logical and rational thinking, 'intuition' is a word often used with derogatory overtones, intended to imply some sort of inadequate way of thinking which is less than rational. What Goethe is establishing is not only that the reverse is true, that it is in fact a higher level ability, but that it is a mode of thought which can not only be developed in a highly articulate way but can be developed as a very precise way of thinking and is not in the least vague.
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Etymologically, 'intuition' means 'seeing into', which clearly expresses the fact that it is the experience of seeing the phenomenon in depth, and what Goethe was at pains to point out was that this depth is to do with another level of perception of the phenomenon, i.e. 'depth' here means 'depth of perception', which gives a different, holistic and directly meaningful experience of the whole phenomenon, experienced directly by the senses in a process of deep engagement, not by some intellectual process of analysis. |