By Jaidis Ameer
Intuition is the ability to know something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning. Unlike logic, which relies on systematic, step-by-step reasoning and evidence-based conclusions, intuition operates through the subconscious synthesis of experiences and emotions. It provides an ephemeral burst of wisdom, and bypasses deliberate calculation. Yet, despite its indispensability, intuition is often overshadowed by the prestige and reliability logical reasoning is known for.
The rise of logic as a cornerstone of academia dates to the Enlightenment, a time that celebrated practicality and scientific discovery. Thinkers like René Descartes and Immanuel Kant championed the idea that analytical thought should be our way of solving mysteries of the world. Their work laid the foundation for a shift in educational priorities, where empirical evidence and deductive reasoning became central to learning. Logic is organized, meaning it could promise objectivity and precision, which made it the gold standard for academic inquiry. Still, this focus on logic came with a trade-off—the marginalization of intuition and its less tangible, yet equally valuable, insights.
While logic took center stage, intuition never disappeared—because it could not have. Intuition is intrinsic to human consciousness, an innate faculty that is requisite for sentience. It operates in the background, regardless of whether we consciously choose to prioritize logical, analytical reasoning. While one might decide to rely more on logic and evidence-based thought, intuition is not something we can simply discard or ignore. At its best, logic works in accordance with intuition, each enhancing the other: intuition allows a person to tacitly make decisions based on the metaphysical condition of the universe, while logic lets us partake in discourse on uncovering what those metaphysical conditions are or mean.
The idea of remembrance, in the context of evolution and consciousness, suggests that all conscious beings are tacitly aware of their ancestry: the chemistry and evolution that has contoured existence since the beginning of time. This ancestral recollection, in its most inclusive sense, perfuses everything: from conscious beings to inanimate objects. The origins of every conscious object can be traced back to billion-year-old ancestors that were unconscious objects. Consequently, there exists a memory of the universe’s earliest processes.
The notion that evolution applies not only to living beings but also to inanimate matter is rooted in the history of the universe from the beginning. After the Big Bang, the simplest elements—hydrogen and helium—came into existence. But they did not remain static. Through nucleosynthesis in stellar cores, these elements interacted and fused to form heavier ones like oxygen and carbon. This cosmic transformation of matter highlights how the universe has been actively evolving, even before the emergence of life itself.
Consider water as an example of this cosmic memory. Water molecules, composed of hydrogen and oxygen, trace their origins through billions of years of cosmic events. Hydrogen, the most abundant element, and oxygen, which formed later, had to survive supernova explosions, intense radiation, and harsh conditions of space before they could combine into H₂O. Their journey through the universe, including travel on comets and asteroids, enabled life on Earth to thrive. This persistence reflects how non-living matter, like water, follows a kind of natural selection—shaped by forces that reward stability and adaptation, even without consciousness.
This idea of intuition as a form of remembrance also finds its way into philosophy. The idea that intuition is a foundation for knowledge shows up in the work of major philosophers like Descartes and Kant. Descartes saw intuition as essential for discovering self-evident truths. While intuition often gets criticized for lacking hard evidence, he considered it the starting point for all other knowledge. For him, it was the one thing you could trust to provide certainty in a world full of doubt—it is what gives philosophy solid ground to stand on.
Kant also put intuition front and center, especially in his approach to morality. He argued that moral principles do not come from observing the world but from an innate, intuitive sense of duty we all share. This “practical reason” is something every rational person has, no matter their experiences. Kant’s famous idea of the categorical imperative links this intuition to universal moral rules. According to him, we instinctively know right from wrong and feel a duty to act morally—not because of the consequences, but because it is simply the right thing to do. For Kant, this intuitive moral reasoning fits into his broader belief in a priori knowledge, forming a firm base for ethical decision-making.
Intuition often plays an understated yet vital role in scientific breakthroughs, as shown in Dmitry Mendeleev’s development of the periodic table. His accomplishment was deeply rooted in an intuitive understanding of the relationships between elements. Even before all the empirical evidence was available, he observed patterns in their properties and envisioned a structure to organize them. Remarkably, this vision—said to have come to him in a dream—allowed Mendeleev to predict the existence of elements that had not yet been discovered. His work is a clear example of how intuition can bridge gaps in knowledge, helping scientists make profound discoveries that logic alone might miss.
The complementary sum and substance of intuition and logic lies in their ability to enhance one another. Intuition, with its immediacy and reliance on subconscious processes, enables the swift synthesis of information and recognition of patterns without the need for deliberate analytical effort. Logic, in contrast, provides the structure and rigor needed to evaluate and substantiate these intuitive insights, refining and confirming them through systematic analysis. A logical conclusion without intuition is indifferent. That said, an intuitive conclusion without logic is insufficient.
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Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Mary
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Jaidis Ameer (Jaidis Hill) is a freshman at CT State Tunxis.
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