This unit provides a brief recapitulation of the core principles involved in analysing Christopher Hitchens’ intuitive decision-making function, as demonstrated in the afore-going units 01-19.

OUR POINT OF REFERENCE

According to Jung’s first premise concerning psychological theories, every theory of psychic processes must be considered in its turn as itself a psychic process of that individual and therefore expresses a specific type of human psychology. Put simply, the psychological theories of thinkers must be investigated according to the psychic processes involved in their decision-making. The same rule applies to the psychological theories of intuitives. The intuitive’s perception on the meaning of even the most basic scientific terminology, for instance science, theory and facts, differs significantly from the thinker’s perspective on the same terminology. 

This compels us to recognise and apply Jung’s way of decision-making and its related processes as our set point of reference. Jung clearly indicated his own way of decision-making as being scientific. Jung’s scientific mind-set is therefore the point of reference and default for our presentations. Jung named the psychological function that enables the scientific mind-set, thinking. The thinking function relates to the conceptualisation of facts that conform to law and its interrelations. Classification is a thinking thing. 

TERMINOLOGY

Jung’s conceptualisation proceeds from facts which everyone is at liberty to verify. It follows that we are compelled to present Jung’s findings by adhering to his concepts and terminology unaltered and without modification of their formulation. 

SELF-REPRESENTATIONS

The material of self-representations carries the imprint of the ordering principle of each individual to whom they belong. The experiencing subject is the only one capable of presenting their own psychic experiences. Verbal, written or visual self-representations are the only means by which anyone can portray their psychological experiences to outsiders. 

The psychological investigator thus observes and investigates the material of self-representations of individuals in search of the manifested qualities of the psychic phenomena under consideration. We can thus observe for instance the qualities of Jung’s thinking function throughout his work in the material of his self-representation.   

DEFINITION OF INTUITION 

For Jung, intuition perceives the possibilities inherent in a situation. The faculty of intuition enables the determination of space-time relationships. In space, every object is in endless connection with a multiplicity of other objects. In time, the object represents merely a transition from a former state to a succeeding one. The perception of the intuitive is directed simply and solely to events as they happen. Things come from somewhere and they go to somewhere. You cannot see where they came from and you cannot know where they go to. But the intuitive type glances at things, taking in their fullness. Among the many things which they perceive they get one point on the periphery of their field of vision, that is the intuition or possibility, based on accidental facts. In intuition a content presents itself whole and complete, without our being able to explain or discover how this content came into existence. Intuition is the function that mediates perceptions in an unconscious and therefore irrational way. It is a kind of instinctive apprehension. The intensity of the intuition decides conscious orientation.

JUNG’S CRITERIA FOR INTUITION

We have demonstrated Jung’s criteria for intuition in our analysis of Christopher Hitchens as contained in Units 05 to 11. It is important to note that for practical purposes not all these criteria need to be identified simultaneously in a single given self-representation, as they will become apparent over time given the consistency with which individuals represent themselves.  

When we analyse the “material of self-representation” of either an intuitive or a thinker, it is not imperative to have all the criteria present, as not all are necessarily required simultaneously, on condition that there are sufficient criteria to conclusively indicate the particular function as the decisive factor for this individual’s conscious orientation. However, when sufficient material is available, for example when an individual has authored a book or an article, all the criteria pertaining to their individual way of decision-making will be found. This is in keeping with Jung’s conclusion that the principles of the decision-making functions of intuition versus thinking are so different that they cannot be related or reduced to one another. 

THREE ASPECTS OF THE IRRATIONAL IN INTUITION

There are three aspects related to the term irrational relevant to intuition. Firstly, it refers to the fact that intuition works with accidental or irrational facts. Secondly, it refers to the irrational nature of the basic intuition function. Finally, it refers to the irrational nature of the resulting intuitive viewpoint as a product of intuition.

BACK TO NAVIGATION