https://doi.org/10.21852/sem.2016.1.08
Man is not only a passive subject “reflecting” the observed objects, but he also possesses a sense of “distance” towards those objects or, in other words, he assumes a superior and independent position with respect to them. Thus cognition, constituting a reaction of a living person to a specific stimulus, cannot be brought down merely to sensation.
Activity of small children can be compared to the activity of scientists who solve problems, formulate hypotheses and plan research that could verify them. Due to their specific way of thinking, children intuitively implement the acquired knowledge in practical solution of life problems. We can, therefore, assume that children’s knowledge bears the character of “life wisdom” in its original and practical sense. Children seem to have some life wisdom which is not “contaminated” by intellectualizaton processes or by adjusting their own experiences to scientific theories on the world’s essence and functioning. For this reason, we can suppose that children’s awareness reaches to the intuitive part of their minds, only partly using the available rational knowledge.
The article is an attempt at presenting the significance of children’s specific intuitive and intellectual activity for the development of mature understanding of themselves and the world around them.
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