The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

by Gunther Max

The Seventh Axiom suggests that it is a mistake either to laugh at hunches categorically or to trust them indiscriminately. Though intuition is not infallible, it can be a useful speculative tool if handled with care and skepticism. There is nothing magical or otherworldly about intuition. It is simply a manifestation of a perfectly ordinary mental experience: that of knowing something without knowing how one knows it. If you are hit by a strong hunch telling you to make a certain move with your money, the Axiom urges you to put it to a test. Trust it only if you can explain it – that is, only if you can identify within your mind a stored body of information out of which that hunch might reasonably be supposed to have arisen. If you have no such library of data, disregard the hunch. The associated Minor Axiom XI warns, finally, that a hunch can easily be confused with a hope. Be especially wary of any intuitive flash that seems to promise some outcome you want badly.