intuition and experimentation an e mail exchange begun by maria

In reference to our discussions on Sunday I was just looking at some entries on intuition and experimentation, and thought I'd share some snippets of that with you:


Intuition is apparent ability to acquire knowledge without a clear inference or reasoning process.
It is "the immediate apprehension of an object by the mind without the intervention of any reasoning process" [Oxford English Dictionary].


In the scientific method, an experiment (Latin: ex- periri, "of (or from) trying") is a set of observations performed in the context of solving a particular problem or question, to retain or falsify a hypothesis or research concerning phenomena. The experiment is a cornerstone in the empirical approach to acquiring deeper knowledge about the physical world.
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Maria

thanks for these definitions. But how these words become applicable to the visual arta and its processes has to be flexible and approximate. the definition for intuition seems applicable to making art but the experiment definition does not. however it does seem debatable whether there is such a thing as experimentation within art...it seems to be something else, testing out, trying out etc. Apologies for incoherency, but more of this I hope, Phyllida

I think the precision offered by dictionary definitions is fascinating, valuable and quite seductive: they offer fixed points you can attach other things to and that's not to be underrated. But I also tend to agree with Phyllida that terms should be up for grabs when applied in different contexts. And perhaps it's worth remembering that for most of its history, language (and the English language in particular) has always been rather fluid in terms of definitions, grammatical structure and spelling -and that really it was the Victorians who have made the most concerted effort to fix rules of grammar, spelling and definitions all as part of their great philosophical mission. It could be argued that we are suffering from a hangover of that ethos even today....? best wishes, Jon