Intuition in Bion. Between invariance and creative emergency

Abstract

In this work, we rethink the epistemological meaning of the concept of intuition in Bion in order to dissolve some misunderstandings. Moreover, we claim that the intuitive process in Bion presents two moments: one is turned to the past, to “unconscious” knowledge in the Bionian sense, therefore to the search for invariance. The other is turned to the future, as a creative moment that through dreaming leads to transformation in O, to growth. This double movement of intuition is precisely what current neuroscience highlights. We show that Bion introduced the concept of intuition from the beginning, not much as an expression of a tension towards mysticism, but as an expression of his rejection of the positivist paradigm and the introduction of a new epistemology linked to Bergson, Poincare, Husserl, Whitehead …

Rugi G. (2022), “Intuition in Bion. Between search for invariants and creative emergence, in Bion, intuition and the expansion of psychoanalytic theory, edited by Antònia Grimalt, Routledge, London and New York.