intuitionism

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

intuitionism
    n 1: (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge is acquired
         primarily by intuition

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Intuitionism \In`tu*i"tion*ism\, n.
   Same as {Intuitionalism}.
   [1913 Webster]

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

intuitionistic logic
intuitionism

   <logic, mathematics> Brouwer's foundational theory of
   mathematics which says that you should not count a proof of
   (There exists x such that P(x)) valid unless the proof
   actually gives a method of constructing such an x.  Similarly,
   a proof of (A or B) is valid only if it actually exhibits
   either a proof of A or a proof of B.

   In intuitionism, you cannot in general assert the statement (A
   or not-A) (the principle of the {excluded middle}); (A or
   not-A) is not proven unless you have a proof of A or a proof
   of not-A.  If A happens to be {undecidable} in your system
   (some things certainly will be), then there will be no proof
   of (A or not-A).

   This is pretty annoying; some kinds of perfectly
   healthy-looking examples of {proof by contradiction} just stop
   working.  Of course, excluded middle is a theorem of
   {classical logic} (i.e. non-intuitionistic logic).

   History
   
(http://britanica.com/bcom/eb/article/3/0,5716,118173+14+109826,00.html).

   (2001-03-18)