Quite often, when thinking over various important issues, people suddenly suddenly look for some solution that seems to be condescending to them. It was at such a moment that a person exclaims: "Insight descended on me, everything became clear!" However, this lexical unit is found in other contexts that have a completely different content. The article will examine what enlightenment is and what meanings it has.
The direct meaning of the word
Any word of the Russian language has a basic definition, which is usually used in speech. This meaning is called direct, it has no figurative, metaphorical or figurative meaning, so it is understandable to most people. The lexeme under consideration has two main definitions.
In the first sense, the word "insight" is the same as the verb "illuminate", that is, brightly illuminate someone / something, according to the explanatory dictionary of S. I. Ozhegov, N. Yu. Shvedova. In the context, this lexical unit can be used as follows: "Illumination of the fields with the morning sun," that is, illumination, endowment with saturated light.
In the second meaning, this token is used to describe a sudden clarification of consciousness, a clear understanding of something. For example, it “found an insight”, that is, the problem was resolved, the necessary idea, thought was found. In this meaning, the lexeme “insight” indicates that the process of understanding something was long enough, as a result, the search for a solution to the issue was rewarded with a sudden, clear understanding of it.
Many great discoveries were made precisely through insight. The first known case is the famous "Eureka!" Archimedes, when, plunging into the water, he noticed that its level had changed, became higher. It was at this moment that the great scientist realized how to measure the weight of various things, and insight descended on him.
Figurative meaning
Of secondary importance are not all words in the Russian language. It is derived from a direct, fundamental meaning, usually has a figurative, metaphorical implication. According to the figurative definition, “illumination” is enlightenment, the improvement of something that becomes radiant, animated.
The following examples will help to understand the meaning: “illumination of the face with a smile”, “illumination of the soul with hope”.
The figurative meaning is directly connected with the main one: just as the sun illuminates the fields, a sincere smile can make a person brighter, kinder and more open.
Phraseology
The lexeme "insight" is not found in phraseological units of the Russian language, but there are stable combinations that convey the meaning of this word: "clarify the problem", "get to the bottom of it."
Such is the phraseology "that's where the dog is buried", the origin of which has several versions. This stable expression is uttered when suddenly a thought, an idea came to understand the essence of the problem or difficult task.
Synonyms for the word "insight"
Considering the question of what “insight” is, the definition of which was given above, it is necessary to turn to synonymous words for this token. Synonyms are lexical units that are similar in meaning but different in spelling. For words that have a direct semantic load, you can pick up the following synonyms:
- Lighting - to give light, to be its source. Fields lit by the spring sun.
- Clarification - make clear, understandable. The thought cleared up.
- Inspiration - a sudden thought, inspiration. To go on a hunch - subconsciously, on a hunch.
A word with a figurative meaning has this synonym:
- To become clear - to become purified, quickened. His eyes cleared.
Antonymic Tokens
Illumination is something bright, bright, understandable, clear, therefore it is quite easy to choose antonyms for this word - lexical units that have the opposite meaning.
The lexeme under consideration has the antonym “dimming”, which can be used both mainly and figuratively:
- make it dark, do not let light in: darken the windows - close them from lighting, mask;
- fog, make incomprehensible: darken consciousness.
The use of tokens in scientific terminology
The word "insight" is quite actively used in psychology, where it is a term that describes a specific characteristic of human thinking. From the point of view of this science, “insight” is an instant, sudden, new understanding that cannot be derived from past experience, it is an understanding of important issues, tasks, relationships, a vision of the essence of the problem as a whole, and a way out of the impasse through a conscious solution to the problem situation.
"Illumination" as a term was first used in gestalt psychology, which was studying the intelligence of anthropoids. In the course of experiments and research, the famous psychologist V. Köhler proved that animals learn not by trial and error, but investigate a problem that could not be solved immediately, examine objects around, and then quickly find the right answer.
Therefore, “insight” acts as a characteristic of a person’s thinking, it is an intellectual act when the solution is in the process of recognizing the problem as a whole, and not in analyzing it. This category not only explains the process of understanding, but rather describes it.
Insight - insight in action
Considering the lexeme "insight", the meaning of a word, one cannot ignore insight - a term also used in psychology, meaning insight in reality, which comes during the solution of a certain problem.
Psychologists have no consensus on this process. Some argue that insight does not exist, while others, on the contrary, conduct various experiments, experiments that prove that there is insight.
Proponents of Gestald psychology believe that many difficult tasks can be solved with the help of insight, which is the third step in the theory of mental problem solving. The first stage introduces a difficult question, the second - works on finding answers, the third - the insight itself, the solution that can be both true, true, and negative, and the fourth - checking the received answer.
At the same time, insight is perceived as a bright emotional outburst that is difficult to confuse with something else. Moreover, emotions will always be positive, beautiful, even with a negative result, as a certain answer is found, albeit incorrect.
Therefore, insight is also an insight, which means a successful search for a solution, on the one hand, and getting a strong bright emotion, on the other.
Thus, the lexical unit under consideration has several meanings, among which there are direct and figurative, is actively used as a term in psychology, and also expresses such a real concept as insight. In general, the “'insight' 'is a bright illumination of the world and human consciousness, occurring due to the sun in the first case and a certain superconsciousness in the second.