Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 45

Application of reason and intuition in the fields of Science, Arts, Ethics and Religion
Reason and intuition operate in each and every sphere of human knowledge. Let us see how Dr. Radhakrishnan shows their application in the different fields of human activity, namely Science, Arts, Ethics and Religion.
Reason shapes the outer structures whereas intuition fathoms the depth of inner truth. There is mutual participation of reason and intuition in the different fields. According to Dr. Radhakrishnan "The cognitive, the aesthetic and the ethical sides of life are only sides, however vital and significant, the religious includes them all". 17
Science
The application of reason and intuition in the field of science has been much confused due to the misunderstanding that science is solely a matter of observation and reason. It is true that scientific laws are ascertained and determined by reason and higher mathematical knowledge but their discovery is also often the result of some flashes of intuition. All creative work in science is inspired by intuitive experience. Dr. Radhakrishnan observes-"The great scientific discoveries are due to the irtuitive genius of the creative thinkers and not the plodding processes of the intellect", "amid much that is entangled and dark we have flashes of wondrous insight which appear less the product of reasoning than of revelation." Intuition discovers, whereas reason proves it. The art of discovery must not be confused with the logic of proof. Radhakrishnan writes "We forget that we invent by intuition, though we prove by logic". 18
Art
Art has got its formal structure as well as inner essence. Reason works on the formal or external structure of art, whereas intuition penetrates into the inner essence. Reason adds to the value of art (e.g. music; every evoice is not music; or a lump of colour is not painting; a picce of stone is not a piece of artistic sculpture). Even if art is the self-expression, the self that is expressed is not the narrow one. (It is the expression of the whole self ). Art is a mode of integral insight. "In aesthetic experience, we have a type of intuitive knowledge, a personal relationship with the object which is essentially different from what is found in intellectual cognition."19 Art in its perfection, merges into ethics.