The majority of definitions seem to center on the basis that Intuition is the “ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason” (source: Wikipedia); “the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought or inference” (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary); “immediate apprehension by the mind without reasoning” and “immediate insight” by The Concise Oxford Dictionary.
Great philosophers, mathematicians, inventors, developers and scientists throughout history have used insight and intuition to formulate programs, inventions and push forward the boundaries of human development. Notwithstanding, we remain unsure as to the reliability and trustworthiness of intuition, hunch and gut feelings that suddenly flash through our minds (the aha effect) when creating new ideas/concepts or when finalizing decisions on issues that we are confronted with. In summary, there are significant positive values and possible perils involved with relying solely on intuition and hunches.
In my opinion, intuition/hunch/gut feeling may appear to be spontaneous irrational, non-deductive/cognitive thoughts that suddenly flash through our mind, but in actual fact may be more rational than we may realize. All of us at one time or other obtain unexpected flash of ideas, thoughts and inspiration mostly of a positive nature, but unfortunately negative ones do pop up as well. Also, when attempting to rationalize and finalize decisions through our conscious deductive reasoning and analytical processes we sometimes reach an impasse or stalemate point. Then out of the blue intuition, hunch or gut feeling does appear to the rescue. The question remains whether the latter is more effective or reliable than the rational deductive process.
I believe the conscious deductive and rational/cognitive process is no assurance that the correct decisions will be made at all times, and similarly the intuitive process may provide a comparable success rate. I am inclined to believe however that our intuition is more “formula” generated by our subconscious mind and is developed from our own past experience with somewhat related or partial similar issues or events. As such, our subconscious “formulas” could be compared to say, functions in Excel spreadsheets or other software programs which are used as shortcuts in a more lengthy process if these formulas were not used. In summary, the intuition formulas flash in our minds but without the details or rationale of their composition. This flash and undescribed approach may give then the impression that intuition may be irrational or not based on cognitive reasoning process. The intuition “formulas” plus the conscious cognitive deductive processes team up to provide a global assessment of the issues involved which in turn assist in the final decision needed. Of course, there is no assurance whether the teaming up of the conscious cognitive analytical processes and subconscious intuitive decision making processes will achieve proper decisions at all times. Still, it is reassuring to know that our brains have two independent sources to stimulate our creativity and the joint decision making processes seem to work and complement each other when used properly.
Based on the description of intuition I elaborated above, I am questioning whether young children have developed a variety of life experience to enable intuition to develop, flourish and grow.