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Single Idea 16111

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 2. Intuition ]

Full Idea

Since Aristotle generally prefers a metaphysical theory that accords with common intuitions, he frequently relies on facts about language to guide his metaphysical claims.

Gist of Idea

Aristotle wants to fit common intuitions, and therefore uses language as a guide

Source

report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Mary Louise Gill - Aristotle on Substance Ch.5

Book Ref

Gill,Mary Louise: 'Aristotle on Substance: Paradox of Unity' [Princeton 1989], p.151


A Reaction

I approve of his procedure. I take intuition to be largely rational justifications too complex for us to enunciate fully, and language embodies folk intuitions in its concepts (especially if the concepts occur in many languages).


The 26 ideas with the same theme [direct awareness of knowledge]:

Intuition grasps the definitions that can't be proved [Aristotle]
Aristotle wants to fit common intuitions, and therefore uses language as a guide [Aristotle, by Gill,ML]
Intuition gives us direct and certain knowledge of what is obvious [Locke]
Kantian intuitions are of particulars, and they give immediate knowledge [Kant, by Shapiro]
Intuition is a representation that depends on the presence of the object [Kant]
Faith is not knowledge; it is a decision of the will [Fichte]
Bolzano wanted to avoid Kantian intuitions, and prove everything that could be proved [Bolzano, by Dummett]
Intuitions cannot be communicated [Frege, by Burge]
Intuition only recognises what is possible, not what exists or is certain [Nietzsche]
Direct 'seeing' by consciousness is the ultimate rational legitimation [Husserl]
Russell showed, through the paradoxes, that our basic logical intuitions are self-contradictory [Russell/Whitehead, by Gödel]
How do I decide when to accept or obey an intuition? [Wittgenstein]
We often trust our intuitions as rational, despite their lack of reflection [Solomon]
Intuition is the strongest possible evidence one can have about anything [Kripke]
Intuition and thought-experiments embody substantial information about the world [Papineau]
Intuitions don't prove things; they just receptivity to interpretations [Kekes]
'Intuitions' are just unreliable 'hunches'; over centuries intuitions change enormously [Lowe]
If we learn geometry by intuition, how could this faculty have misled us for so long? [Boghossian]
Intuition is neither powerful nor vacuous, but reveals linguistic or conceptual competence [Williamson]
When analytic philosophers run out of arguments, they present intuitions as their evidence [Williamson]
The word 'intuitive' often plays not role at all in arguments, and can be removed [Cappelen]
Intuition is only outside the 'space of reasons' if all reasons are inferential [Hanna]
Intuition includes apriority, clarity, modality, authority, fallibility and no inferences [Hanna]
Intuition is more like memory, imagination or understanding, than like perception [Hanna]
There is no reason to think our intuitions are good for science or metaphysics [Ladyman/Ross]
It is not enough that intuition be reliable - we need to know why it is reliable [Jenkins]