ABSTRACT
T here are as many meanings for the term intuition as there are people using it. Philosophers often conceive of intuition as a competence. Adopting the philosophical approach, the Encyclopædia Britannica (15th Edition, 1989) denes intuition as “the power of obtaining knowledge that cannot be acquired either by inference or observation, by reason or experience” (p. 000). This denition evokes some mystical connotations: If such a power really existed independent from experience and reason, where would it originate? Browsing the World Wide Web, one readily spots the answer: Intuition is the red telephone connecting us to above. Although there is considerable variety among the conceptions of the telephone and the distant entity, many inspired followers of New Age patchwork religions would agree that intuition is informed by a supernatural power. Indeed, this is an old view deeply rooted in the tradition of religious thinking. Feuchtwanger (1937) provided a nice illustration of this mystic power in his novel “Der falsche Nero” (The False Nero).1 After Nero’s death, Titus rules the Roman Empire. However, a former senator in the Roman provinces “revives” Nero to instigate a coup d’état against Titus. Terentius Maximus, the spitting image of the late Nero, is trained to copy the behavior of his idol in all respects. Taking over his new role perfectly, the impostor even learns to reevoke the daimonium of the emperor —the capability of the gifted to sense the will of the gods-to reach and justify political decisions.
