Rationalism Definition

Most of us have heard the expression, ''Be rational'', especially when we're reacting emotionally. This is like when our motivations are inspired by things that don't necessarily make a lot of sense to other people, or it's clear that our perspective is skewed because of our feelings. Like our feelings, our senses can also project a skewed perception of reality. Take optical illusions for example. Our sense of truth isn't actually real, so we're not being rational.

Essentially, rationalism regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge or what's true. Truth, in the case of rationalism, is not sensory but intellectual, which is why rationalists believe that knowledge can be acquired through reason alone. This makes rationalism a priori, meaning that we gain knowledge without experience through the use of reason. Rationalism applies primarily to logic and mathematics, meaning that there is a calculated and reasoned approach to conclusions or the truth.

In rationalism, knowledge is acquired in three ways:

While deduction relies on principles or formulas to find answers, reason offers different ways to find the truth or draw conclusions. For example, let's take the biblical story of the Judgment of Solomon. Solomon had to resolve a dispute between two women who claimed to be the mother of a baby. Since this was long before DNA testing, Solomon ordered that the baby be cut in half.

Upon hearing this, one of the women cried out not to harm the child and to let the other woman take the baby. Solomon concluded through logic that the woman who cried out to spare the child was actually the child's mother because the mother would rather the child live than win an argument.

Rationalism finds that truths are held by intellect. As rationalism became a more popular philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was also connected to metaphysical truths and ethical truths. For example, the statement: ''Slavery is wrong'' is an example of an ethical truth, which makes it a rational belief.

Rationalist thinkers believe that knowledge, or our understanding of truth, is acquired without sense perception. In other words, knowledge is acquired through a secular outlook, which is an outlook that is absent of religious influence. This doesn't mean that rational thinkers were atheists, though some were. Most early rationalists believed that our innate ideas were given to us from God.

The Age of Reason was a period during the Enlightenment and a time when rationalism gained in popularity. Philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz were responsible for articulating the fundamental beliefs of rationalism. These philosophers believed that a mathematical approach to reason was the most conducive with how the mind works.

The most well-known proponent of rationalism was French philosopher Ren Descartes, whose rationalist philosophy is often referred to as Cartesianism. His belief was that eternal truths can be discovered by reason and did not require sensory experience.

He was famous for the phrase ''I think, therefore I am.'' His perspective on rationalism was that some ideas come from God and are innate, some come from experience, which would include scientific matters such as physics, and others come from the imagination. However, he believed that fundamental truths could be determined through reason and didn't require experience to ascertain.

Descartes' ideas on rationalism of the early 1600s inspired other thinkers, such as Kant, as well as the aforementioned Spinoza and Liebniz, who expanded on the ideas that he had put forth. As rationalism expanded into other regions of the world, it was both criticized and embraced.

Some philosophers even attempted to find commonalities between rationalism and empiricism, which is essentially, for a lack of better terms, the opposite of rationalism in that empiricists believe that all knowledge arrives through the senses and experience.

Let's take a few moments to review what we've learned about rationalism. Rationalism is the idea that knowledge can be acquired through reason alone. In rationalism, truth can be found with the following things:

Fundamentally the opposite of empiricism, rationalism holds that experience isn't necessary to gain knowledge. The senses can be fooled, so rationalists believed that the only sure way to find truth was through logic and mathematical principles. Rationalism gained in popularity during the Age of Reason, which was a period during the Enlightenment, and was heavily promoted by French philosopher Ren Descartes.

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