Presentation on Faith and Intuition for ToK

1. Ways of Knowing (4)
INTUITION AND FAITH

2. Intuition?
Some common synonyms:
÷Gut feelings
÷Hunches
÷First impressions
÷Rapid cognition
÷Snap judgements

3. Intuition
“Intuitions are the judgements, solutions and ideas that pop into our
consciousness without our being aware of the mental processes that
led to them. When you suddenly know the answer to a problem
you’ve been mulling over or when you know that you like someone
but can’t tell why, your knowledge is intuitive.”
Jonathan Haidt and Craig Joseph, quoted in ‘Theory of Knowledge, A Course Companion’ page 194

4. Intuition
◦ “intuition is the result of the way our brains store, process and
retrieve information on a subconscious level” (Professor Gerard Hodgkinson )
◦ the brain drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a
decision – but one that happens so fast the reaction is at a non-conscious
level. All we’re aware of is a general feeling that something
is right or wrong.

5. Intuition – an example
“ A Formula One driver braked sharply when nearing a hairpin bend without
knowing why –as a result he avoided hitting a pile-up of cars on the track ahead,
undoubtedly saving his life.”
“In hindsight the driver realised that the crowd, which would have normally been
cheering him on, wasn’t looking at him coming up to the bend but was looking
the other way in a static, frozen way. That was the cue. He didn’t consciously
process this, but he knew something was wrong and stopped in time.”

6. Intuition
“a book about rapid cognition... The kind of
thinking that happens in a blink of an eye
when you meet someone for the first time,
or walk into a house you might buy or read
the first sentences of a book.... You mind
takes about two seconds to jump to a series
of conclusions... In Blink I’m trying to
understand those two seconds.”
http://gladwell.com/blink/blink-q-and-a-with-malcolm/

7. Intuition
Intuition strikes me as a concept we
use to describe emotional reactions,
gut feelings–thoughts and impressions
that don’t seem entirely rational. But I
think that what goes on in that first
two seconds is perfectly rational. It’s
thinking–its just thinking that moves a
little faster and operates a little more
mysteriously than the kind of
deliberate, conscious decision-making
that we usually associate with
“thinking.”
I guess I just want to get people to take
rapid cognition seriously. When it
comes to something like dating, we all
readily admit to the importance of
what happens in the first instant when
two people meet. But we won’t admit
to the importance of what happens in
the first two seconds when we talk
about what happens when someone
encounters a new idea, or when we
interview someone for a job, or when a
military general has to make a decision
in the heat of battle
http://gladwell.com/blink/blink-q-and-a-with-malcolm/

8. Social Intuition
Character judgements
Is someone lying?
Relationships

9. Intuition in Maths
And I was sitting here at this desk ...... and I was trying, convincing myself that it
didn't work, just seeing exactly what the problem was, when suddenly, totally
unexpectedly, I had this incredible revelation. I realized what was holding me up
was exactly what would resolve the problem I had had in my Iwasawa theory
attempt three years earlier, was—It was the most—the most important moment
of my working life. It was so indescribably beautiful; it was so simple and so
elegant, and I just stared in disbelief for twenty minutes. ..........My original
approach to the problem from three years before would make exactly that work.
....... So, the first night, I went back and slept on it. I checked through it again the
next morning, and by eleven o'clock, I was satisfied and I went down and told
my wife, "I've got it. I think I've got it. I've found it.“ Andrew Wiles on finding the
solution to Fermat’s last Theorem
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2414proof.html

10. Intuition – always right?
We have many intuitions in our life, and the point is that many of
these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test
those intuitions? We can think about how we're going to test this
intuition in our private life, in our business life, and most particularly
when it goes to policy, ...... when you create new stock markets,
when you create other policies – taxation, health care and so on
Dan Ariely on TED
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code/transcript?language=en#t-938000

11. Intuition and decision making
"You've got to be able to back up your decisions - you can't just say 'because I said so'"
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/business-studies/rita-clifton-
on-intuition-versus-planning

12. Faith
o“I believe in intuitions and inspirations...I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not
KNOW that I am.” Albert Einstein
o“Faith is a passionate intuition” William Wordsworth
o“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe” Voltaire
o“Faith means believing the unbelievable” GK Chesterton
o“Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we
believe” St Augustine

13. Faith
“I do not think there is a demonstrative proof (like Euclid) of Christianity, nor of
the existence of matter, nor of the good will and honesty of my best and oldest
friends. I think all three are (except perhaps the second) far more probable than
the alternatives.…
As to why God doesn't make it demonstratively clear; are we sure that He is
even interested in the kind of Theism which would be a compelled logical assent
to a conclusive argument? Are we interested in it in personal matters? I demand
from my friend trust in my good faith which is certain without demonstrative
proof. It wouldn't be confidence at all if he waited for rigorous proof.”
CS Lewis

14. Faith and knowledge claims
Faith and religion (a faith?)
Faith as belief not requiring (compelling) evidence?
Faith as justification?
Is faith the same as assumption?

15. Faith and knowledge claims
Faith and ethics?
Authority - what do you take on faith (or trust)?
Faith as trust in others?
Are faith and science antithetical?

16. Newman teaches us that if we have accepted the
truth of Christ and committed our lives to him,
there can be no separation between what we
believe and the way we live our lives.
Pope Benedict XVI
There is no absolute truth. You are committing
an act of personal faith when you claim that
the scientific method, including mathematics
and logic, is the privileged road to truth. Other
cultures might believe that truth is to be found
in a rabbit's entrails, or the ravings of a
prophet up a pole. It is only your personal
faith in science that leads you to favour your
brand of truth.
Richard Dawkins

17. Faith – personal or shared knowledge?
I believe .... We believe.....
◦ Personal belief (is that the same as intuition?)
◦ Faith as shared culture