The Concept of Intuition in Schleiermacher’ On Religion and its Comparison to Intuition in Kant

In modern philosophy, Kant had the greatest influence on Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher uses the term intuition many times in On Religion and his other works, but is he referring to the concept of intuition the same as Kant had in mind in his transcendental philosophy? In this article, after presenting a brief historical overview of the concept of intuition up to the modern era, it is examined in Schleiermacher’s thought according to On Religion. Schleiermacher’s concept of intuition and the question of whether intuition is conceptual or non-conceptual in On Religion is part of the research question. The concept of intuition is comparatively studied according to Schleiermacher and Kant. Richard Crouter, the translator of On Religion and one of the experts in Schleiermacher’s thought, considers Schleiermacher’s concept of intuition to be the most similar and compatible to that of Kant. However, the current research shows that despite Schleiermacher’s influence from Kant, his concept of intuition is rooted in Platonic thought, for Schleiermacher’s concept of intuition, though enjoying similarities to Kant’s sensory intuition, does not consider intuition in relation to sense. He did not even explain intuition in the same way as Kant’s rational intuition; rather, he uses it correlationally with the feeling to explain the essence of religion. According to him, intuition is connected with the essence of religion and feeling and, in a way, leads a person to uncovering.