Study On Descartes’ Theory Of Intuition

Philosophy is a kind of reflective knowledge which has formed its current featuresonly in the process of critical reconsidering and asking. Intuition is such a kind of questionthat prompts us into meditation constantly. Descartes is known as the father of modernphilosophy for he has led the Epistemological turn of modern times’ Western philosophy.As the new philosophy requires a new philosophical method, intuition is then the mostbasic and most innovative method that has been proposed by Descartes. Descartes theoryof intuition is not created in a vacuum, but has its historical background of philosophy. Inthe first part of this article, I will try to sort out the problem of intuition historically bypointing out the historical development of this issue from the time of ancient Greece to thetime of Descartes.Descartes made serious research on intuition in Rules for the Guidance of our MentalPowers. For him, intuition is a pure and focused idea of our mind, which is a purespiritual activity, and a rational observation that lies on sense and is also beyond sense. Inthe second part of this article, I will try to make a careful analysis of Descartes theory ofintuition.Descartes philosophical method has deeply influenced Husserl’s phenomenology,that is to say, Husserl retraced Descartes way, and he did it even more thoroughly anddeeply. A further research into this issue contributes to a better understanding of Husserl’sphenomenology. The theory of intuition is not only an empty theroy but has alsoinfluenced the development of contemporary natural sciences, humanities and socialsciences to various degrees. At last of this article, I will discuss the influences ofDescartes theory of intuition.