Rosette, enlargement of a toy roundel

“All knowledge,” said Whitehead, “is derived from and verified by direct intuitive observation.” But such observation provides little comfort for those who need the security of down-to-earth proof. Judgments that lack the support of the opinion makers or of research findings are generally suspect. Some of the reasons, it seems, that intuition has not won accolades are that it is only vaguely understood and virtually impossible to pin down. “What is this intuition?” asks Henri Bergson. “If the …