What is Rationalism? | Rationalism Philosophy & Examples – Video …

Rationalism is the philosophical view or belief that reason is the best test of knowledge. As opposed to empiricism, which argues that all knowledge is created and accrued via experiences, rationalism posits that there is a collection of given truths in existence. All people, according to this mode of understanding, should be able to access and understand these given truths, without needing sensory experience to introduce or reinforce them. A natural intuition is attributed as the means by which this is possible.

Rationalism can be applied in areas such as psychology, metaphysics, language, linguistics, religion, and epistemology.

The term "rationalist" came into being in the 1620s. Rationalists were identified as people who did not follow authority, but reason, in their lives and decision making. But it is thought that the first proponents of the rationalist school of thought lived and worked between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, in Ancient Greece and China (although it should be noted that there were likely many other thinkers before, during, and after this era who were scholars of different forms of rationalism). The Ancient Greek philosophers Pythagoras, Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle, and the Chinese philosophers Confucius and Lao-tzu (the latter being the attributed founder of Daoism), laid the groundwork for contemporary philosophies of rationalism. Each of these practitioners believed that there is an order to all things, and that there is a fundamental knowledge base informing everyday life.

Rationalism, as it is known today in the West, began to take shape under the work of St. Thomas Aquinas in the 12th century. It then came to the fore during the Enlightenment period, between the 16th and 18th centuries. Thinkers Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz elaborated on the basic concepts of rationalism as a framework of fundamental understandings, resulting in seminal theories that are still in play today. Descartes constructed his cogito ergo sum, 'I think, therefore I am,' during his studies of rationalism. He believed that there was an ultimate truth that a person might pursue understanding of, if they were willing to first doubt everything. He grounded his work in a priori thought, or the theory that all human beings carry a base of knowledge that is not dependent on life experience. Spinoza was more preoccupied with the existence of the universe than the existence of the self, as Descartes had been. Leibniz, meanwhile, proposed that all truths are true, but that humans are not necessarily able to understand and perceive those truths (a famous line from him being "snow is white; snow must be white.")

Philosophers Kant and Hegel followed in their predecessor's rationalism-focused footsteps. In the late 18th century, Kant argued that while a priori knowledge might exist in all human beings, it might not accurately reflect or engage with the real world. Hegel, in the early 19th century, believed that "unknowing" was impossible, given that the moment a human being thought of something previously unknown, it would become known to some degree. He also felt that the human mind was similar to the universe as a whole, in that both entities were, ideally, a series of interlocking elements working together in inclusive balance. Then in the 20th century, thinkers Hastings Rashdall and G.E. Moore argued that, as per rationalism, all actions can be ultimately good or evil, based on their original intents.

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What is Rationalism? | Rationalism Philosophy & Examples - Video ...