Lonergan Reader: Chapter 2 The Act of Insight

"The first five chapters of Insight are explorations of the nature and role of the act of insight in mathematics and empirical natural science" (46).

The selection in chapter 2 is from Chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 in Insight.

Lonergan asserts, "Intellectual mastery of mathematics, of the departments of science, of philosophy is the fruit of a slow and steady accumulation of little insights" (47). Big problems are solved by breaking them down into little problems. Insights are the result of a "continuous habit of inquiry that grasps clearly and distinctly all that is involved in the simple things that anyone can understand" (47).

He begins with the example of Archimedes and how he received insight to his problem when he was taking a bath, and he rushed out naked, yelling Eureka! His problem was to find out if the crown fashioned for the king was made of pure gold or mixed with baser metals.

The example of Archimedes tells us that insight "(1) comes as a release to the tension of inquiry, (2) comes suddenly and unexpectedly, (3) is a function not of outer circumstances but of inner conditions, (4) pivots between the concrete and the abstract, and (5) passes into the habitual texture of one's mind" (48).

Lonergan states, "Deep within us all ... there is a drive to know, to understand, to see why, to discover the reason, to find the cause, to explain. . . . But the fact of inquiry is beyond all doubt. It can absorb a man. It can keep him for hours, day after day, year after year, in the narrow prison of his study or his laboratory. It can send him on dangerous voyages of exploration. It can withdraw him from other interests, other pursuits, other pleasures, other achievements. It can fill his waking thoughts, hide from him the world of ordinary affairs, invade the very fabric of his dreams. It can demand endless sacrifices that are made without regret though there is only the hope, never a certain promise, of success" (48). It does seem the first part is true. It does not seem true that the second part applies to everyone.

So, insight comes as a release of tension to inquiry.

Second, "insight come suddenly and unexpectedly" (48). It comes in a "flash;" in a "trivial" moment; in a time of relaxation. Lonergan argues that it does not come "by learning rules, not by following precepts, not by studying any methodology" (48-49). Discovery provides a new place to start. It provides new rules to replace the old. It does not follow "established routines." This is true for teaching about discoveries. Lonergan writes, "For a teacher cannot undertake to make a pupil understand. All he can do is present the sensible elements in the issue in a suggestive order and with a proper distribution of emphasis. It is up to the pupils themselves to reach understanding ..." (49). This is just what Lonergan has done in Insight. It is set up for the student to understand for themselves their own dynamic structure of knowing.

Thirdly, insight is not based on outer circumstances but inner conditions. Insight is not just sensations. Not everyone get the insight from the same experiences. The insight requires some connection with outer circumstances, but the inner conditions are even more important. Lonergan asserts, "Insight depends upon a habitual orientation, upon a perpetual alertness ever asking the little question, why?" In addition, it requires an accurate presentation of the problem to be solved.

Fourth, there is the switching between the concrete and the abstract. Insights come from concrete problems, but it applies to more than the immediate situation. What is discovered by insight is communicated or formulated with the abstract.

Fifthly, it becomes part of the structure of one's own mind. When Archimedes found his solution, he did not go back and find the solution again to present it to the king. Insights build upon insights. What was discovered with difficulty, repetitions happen easily. Lonergan states, "For we can learn inasmuch we add insight to insight, inasmuch as the new does not extrude the old but complements and combines with it." In contrast, if the learner needs to learn a "whole series of insights, the process of learning is marked by an initial period of darkness in which one gropes about insecurely, in which one cannot see where one is going, in which one cannot grasp what all the fuss is about; and only gradually, as one begans to catch on, does the initial darkness yield to a subsequent period of increasing light, confidence, interest, and absorption." (49)