School of Thought
Rationalism
Rationalism is the philosophical view that reason is the primary source of knowledge, associated above all with René Descartes and the conviction that certain truths can be known through thought alone.
Emerging in the 17th century, rationalism held that the mind can attain certain knowledge through reason and innate ideas, in contrast to empiricism's emphasis on sense experience.
Rationalism is the philosophical conviction that reason is the surest path to knowledge. Its great champion, René Descartes, sought truths so certain they could resist all doubt — finding his first in the famous “I think, therefore I am.”
Standing in contrast to empiricism, which roots knowledge in sense experience, rationalism took mathematics as its model: just as geometry derives certain conclusions from self-evident axioms, so, the rationalists believed, could philosophy. The tension between the two traditions drove much of Enlightenment thought, until Immanuel Kant sought to reconcile them.
Core Ideas
- Reason as the chief source of knowledge
- Innate ideas and self-evident truths
- Knowledge by deduction, as in mathematics
- Methodical doubt
Founders
Key Figures of Rationalism
René Descartes
92René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist, the "father of modern philosophy", famous for "I think, therefore I am" and for founding analytic geometry.
Immanuel Kant
94Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher of the Enlightenment, one of the most influential thinkers in history, who reconciled rationalism and empiricism and transformed ethics, metaphysics and epistemology.
Baruch Spinoza
87Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of the early modern era whose rationalist masterpiece, the Ethics, advanced a radical monism identifying God with Nature and made him a foundational figure of modern thought.
Immanuel Kant
94Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher of the Enlightenment, one of the most influential thinkers in history, who reconciled rationalism and empiricism and transformed ethics, metaphysics and epistemology.
René Descartes
92René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist, the "father of modern philosophy", famous for "I think, therefore I am" and for founding analytic geometry.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Rationalism?
Rationalism is the view that reason, rather than sense experience, is the primary source of knowledge, associated especially with Descartes and his quest for certain truths through thought.