Intuition - Part II

Written by Sam Vaknin


The a-priori nature of intuitions ofrepparttar first andrepparttar 126210 third kind led thinkers, such as Adolf Lasson, to associate it with Mysticism. He called it an "intellectual vision" which leads torepparttar 126211 "essence of things". Earlier philosophers and theologians labeledrepparttar 126212 methodical application of intuitions -repparttar 126213 "science ofrepparttar 126214 ultimates". Of course, this missesrepparttar 126215 strong emotional content of mystical experiences.

Confucius talked about fulfilling and seeking one's "human nature" (or "ren") as "the Way". This nature is notrepparttar 126216 result of learning or deliberation. It is innate. It is intuitive and, in turn, produces additional, clear intuitions ("yong") as to right and wrong, productive and destructive, good and evil. The "operation ofrepparttar 126217 natural law" requires that there be no rigid codex, but only constant change guided byrepparttar 126218 central and harmonious intuition of life.

II. Philosophers on Intuition - An Overview

IIA. Locke

But are intuitions really a-priori - or do they develop in response to a relatively stable reality and in interaction with it? Would we have had intuitions in a chaotic, capricious, and utterly unpredictable and disordered universe? Do intuitions emerge to counter-balance surprises?

Locke thought that intuition is a learned and cumulative response to sensation. The assumption of innate ideas is unnecessary. The mind is like a blank sheet of paper, filled gradually by experience - byrepparttar 126219 sum total of observations of external objects and of internal "reflections" (i.e., operations ofrepparttar 126220 mind). Ideas (i.e., whatrepparttar 126221 mind perceives in itself or in immediate objects) are triggered byrepparttar 126222 qualities of objects.

But, despite himself, Locke was also reduced to ideal (innate) intuitions. According to Locke, a colour, for instance, can be either an idea inrepparttar 126223 mind (i.e., ideal intuition) - orrepparttar 126224 quality of an object that causes this idea inrepparttar 126225 mind (i.e., that evokesrepparttar 126226 ideal intuition). Moreover, his "primary qualities" (qualities shared by all objects) come close to being eidetic intuitions.

Locke himself admits that there is no resemblance or correlation betweenrepparttar 126227 idea inrepparttar 126228 mind andrepparttar 126229 (secondary) qualities that provoked it. Berkeley demolished Locke's preposterous claim that there is such resemblance (or mapping) between PRIMARY qualities andrepparttar 126230 ideas that they provoke inrepparttar 126231 mind. It would seem therefore that Locke's "ideas inrepparttar 126232 mind" are inrepparttar 126233 mind irrespective and independent ofrepparttar 126234 qualities that produce them. In other words, they are a-priori. Locke resorts to abstraction in order to repudiate it.

Locke himself talks about "intuitive knowledge". It is whenrepparttar 126235 mind "perceivesrepparttar 126236 agreement or disagreement of two ideas immediately by themselves, withoutrepparttar 126237 intervention of any other...repparttar 126238 knowledge of our own being we have by intuition...repparttar 126239 mind is presently filled withrepparttar 126240 clear light of it. It is on this intuition that depends allrepparttar 126241 certainty and evidence of all our knowledge... (Knowledge is the) perception ofrepparttar 126242 connection of and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy, of any of our ideas."

Knowledge is intuitive intellectual perception. Even when demonstrated (and few things, mainly ideas, can be intuited and demonstrated - relations withinrepparttar 126243 physical realm cannot be grasped intuitively), each step inrepparttar 126244 demonstration is observed intuitionally. Locke's "sensitive knowledge" is also a form of intuition (known as "intuitive cognition" inrepparttar 126245 Middle Ages). It isrepparttar 126246 perceived certainty that there exist finite objects outside us. The knowledge of one's existence is an intuition as well. But both these intuitions are judgmental and rely on probabilities.

IIB. Hume

Hume deniedrepparttar 126247 existence of innate ideas. According to him, all ideas are based either on sense impressions or on simpler ideas. But even Hume accepted that there are propositions known byrepparttar 126248 pure intellect (as opposed to propositions dependent on sensory input). These deal withrepparttar 126249 relations between ideas and they are (logically) necessarily true. Even though reason is used in order to prove them - they are independently true allrepparttar 126250 same because they merely revealrepparttar 126251 meaning or information implicit inrepparttar 126252 definitions of their own terms. These propositions teach us nothing aboutrepparttar 126253 nature of things because they are, at bottom, self referential (equivalent to Kant's "analytic propositions").

The Psychology of Torture - Part I

Written by Sam Vaknin


There is one place in which one's privacy, intimacy, integrity and inviolability are guaranteed – one's body, a unique temple and a familiar territory of sensa and personal history. The torturer invades, defiles and desecrates this shrine. He does so publicly, deliberately, repeatedly and, often, sadistically and sexually, with undisguised pleasure. Hencerepparttar all-pervasive, long-lasting, and, frequently, irreversible effects and outcomes of torture.

In a way,repparttar 126209 torture victim's own body is rendered his worse enemy. It is corporeal agony that compelsrepparttar 126210 sufferer to mutate, his identity to fragment, his ideals and principles to crumble. The body becomes an accomplice ofrepparttar 126211 tormentor, an uninterruptible channel of communication, a treasonous, poisoned territory.

It fosters a humiliating dependency ofrepparttar 126212 abused onrepparttar 126213 perpetrator. Bodily needs denied – sleep, toilet, food, water – are wrongly perceived byrepparttar 126214 victim asrepparttar 126215 direct causes of his degradation and dehumanization. As he sees it, he is rendered bestial not byrepparttar 126216 sadistic bullies around him but by his own flesh.

The concept of "body" can easily be extended to "family", or "home". Torture is often applied to kin and kith, compatriots, or colleagues. This intends to disruptrepparttar 126217 continuity of "surroundings, habits, appearance, relations with others", asrepparttar 126218 CIA put it in one of its manuals. A sense of cohesive self-identity depends crucially onrepparttar 126219 familiar andrepparttar 126220 continuous. By attacking both one's biological body and one's "social body",repparttar 126221 victim's psyche is strained torepparttar 126222 point of dissociation.

Beatrice Patsalides describes this transmogrification thus in "Ethics ofrepparttar 126223 Unspeakable: Torture Survivors in Psychoanalytic Treatment":

"Asrepparttar 126224 gap betweenrepparttar 126225 'I' andrepparttar 126226 'me' deepens, dissociation and alienation increase. The subject that, under torture, was forced intorepparttar 126227 position of pure object has lost his or her sense of interiority, intimacy, and privacy. Time is experienced now, inrepparttar 126228 present only, and perspective – that which allows for a sense of relativity – is foreclosed. Thoughts and dreams attackrepparttar 126229 mind and invaderepparttar 126230 body as ifrepparttar 126231 protective skin that normally contains our thoughts, gives us space to breathe in betweenrepparttar 126232 thought andrepparttar 126233 thing being thought about, and separates between inside and outside, past and present, me and you, was lost."

Torture robsrepparttar 126234 victim ofrepparttar 126235 most basic modes of relating to reality and, thus, isrepparttar 126236 equivalent of cognitive death. Space and time are warped by sleep deprivation. The self ("I") is shattered. The tortured have nothing familiar to hold on to: family, home, personal belongings, loved ones, language, name. Gradually, they lose their mental resilience and sense of freedom. They feel alien – unable to communicate, relate, attach, or empathize with others.

Torture splinters early childhood grandiose narcissistic fantasies of uniqueness, omnipotence, invulnerability, and impenetrability. But it enhancesrepparttar 126237 fantasy of merger with an idealized and omnipotent (though not benign) other –repparttar 126238 inflicter of agony. The twin processes of individuation and separation are reversed.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use