Intuition. “an ability to understand or know something immediately based on your feelings rather than facts” (Cambridge Dictionary) This is an ability which every human has, in fact it is an ability every human needs considering that every human is born with no knowledge of the world. Intuition is what saves them from doing things which possess various possibilities of harming them, whether mentally or physically. Intuition is a feeling which can be trained and grown using knowledge and experiences. To the point in which most often, humans don’t remember why something must be done or must be avoided yet they know that it must be that way no matter what. Intuition is what make sense of the world when facts fail to reveal itself, as it is more often than not, purely based on feelings and human moral psychology.
Ironically, this definition goes against the great philosopher, Aristotle’s, way of thinking about intuition. Aristotle categories intuition as something logical and metaphysical. From here he divides it again in parts, one of which is nous or understanding.
Nous is “a virtue of thought concerned with first principles of scientific knowledge; not action. While partly built up through experience, people also seem to have an intuitive ‘natural consideration, comprehension and judgement’” (Jun 2021, Kristjánsson) From this statement one can understand that understanding (nous) is not a purely feeling based thing, like intuition, in fact it is something built upon scientific factual knowledge. However, it can and is affected by intuition. As it is vice versa as well, intuition can be affected by knowledge and understanding, understanding can be affected by intuition.
In life, this is unavoidable, as humans never stop trying to understand and learn anything and everything around them nor do they stop trying to survive. This is the way in every setting including, if not especially, during one’s university studies. This is the time in life when people face various new experiences and issues for the first time ever. Constantly learning and understanding new things, whether academically or generally. How to live on one’s own, how to handle stressing situations alone, how and what to learn for one’s studies, how to handle one’s new teachers and each of their specific characters, how to do this and that and this and that. So, how do these moments in life connect with nous?
As per Aristotle’s “Nichomachean Ethic Book IV”, Nous is made into four parts. Those four parts being: Episteme meaning knowledge, Phronesis meaning practical knowledge/wisdom, Techne meaning craft or art, and Sophia meaning wisdom.
Firstly, dissecting the meaning of episteme. Episteme may also be translated as scientific knowledge at times, however in this context, scientific does not hold the same meaning it usually does. Instead the word is there to stress that the knowledge is certain, perhaps even factual. Episteme in the setting of the university experience is the academic knowledge which one receives. This plays a majorly large part in university since the main reason one goes there is to further one’s studies. One’s episteme can be sharpened and grown by keeping on learning and learning. A few forms of learning sources one would come across include books, textbooks, verbal teachings, presentations, seminars, coursemates helping out each other for a variety of questions because they hadn’t remembered to ask the teacher. The entire world becomes one’s library, it’s incredible, truly.
In actuality, this applies not only to episteme but to phronesis as well. Phronesis as mentioned before is practical knowledge. So, whereas episteme is “textbook” knowledge, phronesis is knowledge which one can apply directly to life. It ties closely with techne, which means craft, as to put in practice techne one first needs phronesis. Without knowledge on how to do something in what way would one do anything? Yet, they are still two distinctly different points. Through understanding Aristotle’s teachings, it is found that since both phronesis and techne are points “which deal with contingent reality, form (scil. true) opinions. In the case of technê, the opinions are the basis for production; and in the case of phronêsis, the opinions are the basis for living well” (Parry,2003). Once again comparing in a university setting, phronesis would mean knowledge for living, for survival. Every waking moment becomes a phronesis learning moment. How to do one’s own laundry, how to manage one’s time as best as possible for each day, how to plan regular meals with no fail, these are only very few of the many examples. During university is the period when people mature the most, when they learn the most, preparing for adulthood and all its challenges. Not to mention the academic aspect of phronesis, this would include the gap between knowledge received from classes and in real life practices. Although, it’s not very broad as university classes are dominated by theoretical learning.
Expanding more on techne, as it is the form of craft, it is the work of bringing something into existence. Producing so to have tangible progress and results. Most times without realising it, this is happening all the time. Anything that is done which can or will affect other aspects of the world even in the smallest ways means that one is partaking in techne, because the results are always tangible. If one can sense the difference using any of the five senses then it is the result of techne. But perhaps it’s better to narrow it down for now, to a university setting. Techne is prevalent during studio simulations, practising doing actual work based on the knowledge acquired so far. In the architecture major for example, techne is when one is practising drawing site plans and structural work, as well as a model for the building(s) one designed. Another example of techne in university, unspecific to any major, could be when given assignments which involve other people, such as interviews, surveys, socializations, and so on and so forth.
Finally, regarding sophia, which means wisdom. “Aristotle considered sophia to be theoretical wisdom.”(Dennison,2013). This would mean while just “wisdom” holds meaning closer to “common sense” and “good judgement”, sophia would hold closer meaning to “scientific knowledge, combined with intuitive reason, of the things that are highest by nature” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics VI) or in simpler words, based on personal understanding, proven logic. This means sophia ties closely with episteme, as through theoretical knowledge one can acquire theoretical wisdom.
Once again, this point is prevalent in the university experience. Sophia is mainly used during discussions and forming opinions. In university, being the breeding grounds for new opinions and constantly creating new discussions, it is surely with no doubt people use sophia everyday. That is, if those participating truly use proven logic in their arguments, instead of just throwing things out there with no basis whatsoever.
University is surely a difficult yet fun period of time for most and the sudden change in environment can, and do, affect previously high school students quite a lot. Many even ending up needing more time to finish or even finally dropping out entirely.
In a less general note, students who have had to go through school during the COVID-19 pandemic are surely some of the most impacted people by the transition to university from high school. From once not being able to even step outside of home to do anything let alone learn, to suddenly anything is able to be a learning possibility. However this impact isn’t one hundred percent positive for them, experiencing a wide variety of learning methods and practical assignments for the first time also means that they are not used to these methods and assignments creating more difficulty in adapting to university life. Unlike the students who were lucky enough to experience these new learning methods and assignments gradually, through smaller scale, before stepping into university, the students born of the pandemic have their work cut out for them.
Personally, I am a victim of this. Going through the pandemic, never allowed to leave home, schooling only being done online, and finally when we were allowed back offline it was only for a very short time, not to mention having strict parents which made it even more difficult to get out and about at the time. However, there is also a silver lining to this. I am now more excited than ever to face the world head on, perhaps even more than students who didn’t experience the pandemic’s heavy impact. Despite university life having it’s ups and downs, I don’t mind them and instead embrace them. I truly am happy to be able to experience all this, even though it’s only been a short while, it has given me the experiences which I have craved during my high school years. Learning using practical methods like that of making models, going out with friends which I was never able to do before the way I do now, my newfound freedom and knowledge of the world and the environment around me. It has truly been exhilarating.
To conclude, by understanding and utilising the mentioned four points, university students can learn to be able to get through and handle any challenge university life may throw at them, as well as in life after university. Episteme for academic knowledge and understanding, Phronesis for non theoretical knowledge or “street smarts”, Techne to apply the newfound knowledge in real life, and finally Sophia to aid in making the best decisions possible using proven logic and not just instinct. These are the four points of Nous.
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