Abstract

In this paper, I challenge the prevailing view—in both medieval Arabic philosophy and contemporary analytic philosophy—that treats intuition as a propositional attitude. Instead, I advocate for a conception of atomic intuition—a non-propositional, object-directed cognitive state characterized by immediacy and explanatory power. Unlike propositional intuition, which serves as evidence for justifying beliefs, atomic intuition emerges instantaneously as a fundamental epistemic mechanism that provides access to essential insights. Its role in epistemic thought experiments is not to justify propositions (justification-that) but rather to illuminate why certain conclusions naturally follow in specific epistemic contexts (justification-why).