intuition

Intuition is usually seen as anticipatory apprehension or insight which is independent of any reasoning process. In other words, it is a direct and immediate form of perception that uses both sensing and cognition without rational inference; the hunch that seemingly comes from nowhere, or an ‘out of the blue’ solution. In analytical psychology, based upon the work of CG Jung, intuition is seen as one of two perceptive functions.

It is the form of perception which observes the pattern that emerges instead of identifying a specific and immediate sense perception (sensing). It is thus a pattern-matching procedure which finds a valid solution by comparing diverging sets of information. In bio-analysis we extend the concept of intuition to mean an inclusive observation of both inner and outer information, which is able to integrate many functional dimensions of our system’s organisation. In other words, intuition views more of the whole and its possibilities than conscious awareness is able to do. However, the fact that there are two distinct facets to intuition, namely perception (to sense) and intellect (insight), often causes confusion when scientists and scholars try to define intuition. Some concentrate on the perceptive aspect and others focus on the cognitive quality. For this reason empirical medical research has selected to leave intuition in the hands of philosophers, mathematicians and the alternative healing fields.