Like an ant listening to Mozart; ideas on intuition and 'feeling' being a legitimate guidance and discerning factor.

Kant, the German Idealists:

Kant lived from 1724 until 1804 and is an intellectual major who wrote Critique of Pure Reason (1781) which looks into the problems of causality and empiricism (let us not neglect to remember that the idealist are complete opposites to the empiricists). Her also wrote Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) and Critique of Practical Reason (1788).

Kant came up with the idea of Nouminal and Phenomenal worlds. A lot of empiricists have concerned themselves with objects and whether they exist when we are not looking at them, for example Hume, who's ideas state that objects flash in and out of reality/ existence depending on when we do or don't see them. Hume also thought that there is no actual causation in nature; everything happens in our minds. Hume's idea means that when you leave your bedroom to go and collect the post from the front room, your bedroom completely disappears in your absence even though you assume that it is till there and quite certain that it will still be there when you return. Kant managed to answer this idea of disappearing quite simply, he believed that things or objects exist in their own right whether they are being looked at or not. However when they are not being perceived by us they are different to when they are perceived by us; the difference between the Nouminal and Phenomenal worlds.

There are two worlds or types of reality, the nominal outside world which is the light that stimulates the retina, a world concerned with science; invisible atoms and electrons etc. Then there is the inside perceptual world that we experience, the phenomenal world. This means that the world that we experinece with our bodies is not the real world but a replica made with our brains. Although we cannot see the nouminal world we can feel it, like an ant could feel the vibrations of Mozart music and perhaps appreciate it without knowing or understanding it. We use our intuition to feel the noumenal world, what some would call hormones might actually be a deep connection to something bigger felt through emotions; the unmeasurable emotion of love is your connection with the noumenal world, it is not just hormones. Similarily you might look at art and 'feel something deep' and this is aesthetic intuition and appreciation, once again a connection with something more. This is Kants idea anyway.

Some useful web pages:

http://cns-alumni.bu.edu/~slehar/webstuff/book/chap1.html

http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/DB047

http://kantwesley.com/Kant/HumesTwoErrors.html