RELATED QUESTIONS:
- In graphic and vivid words, show how rationalism captures the essential goals of epistemology.
- What is rationalism? What does it really entail?
- Define rationalism and show to what extent it addresses the goal of epistemology.
- What makes a philosopher a rationalist?
- Determine and explain the rallying (common) factors of continental rationalists namely Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz.
Rationalism: An Epistemic School of Thought
Rationalism is the philosophical view that knowledge is acquired through reason, without the aid of the senses. Mathematical knowledge is the best example of this since it is through rational thought alone that we can explore the depths of numerical relations, construct proofs, and deduce even more complex mathematical concepts. Several ancient and medieval writers held to rationalism, most notably Plato and philosophers who followed in the Platonist tradition. In the mid 17th century, though, rationalism was given a unique twist by philosophers who held that our most important mental concepts are innate or inborn and from these we deduce other truths with absolute certainty. Advocates of this position were largely from the continental European countries of France, the Netherlands, and Germany. Hence this new breed of rationalism is often called “Continental Rationalism”. The main philosophers associated with this movement, whose works are the centre of modern rationalism are RenĂ© Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
The Essential Goals of Epistemology
As the mother of rationalism, one basic task which epistemology sets out to accomplish is to create and develop standards for making thinking to be rigorous, critical and evidence based. In order for epistemology to validate sure knowledge, it thoroughly analyses and rigorously evaluates human judgement of things. So, for it to systematically achieve this basic task, epistemologists do ask some fundamental questions that center on knowledge; questions on the object of knowledge, the meaning of knowledge, the constituents of knowledge and the methodology of knowledge.
Accordingly, as a theory of cognition, epistemology is a theory of thinking in that, one of its essential tasks is to prove that human thought is a pure act of unity. What this implies is that the human mind has capacity and ability to organise the poly-dimensional experiences of life into a mono-dimensional concept. This implies that the human mind can create order out of the chaos in our universe. In doing this, the human mind establishes those rules by which we can minimize error and overcome doubt, so that we can be confident to vouch for the certainty of our knowledge.
Furthermore, it is a fact that (western) epistemology began as a result of the sceptics trying to deny the obvious claims of the pre-Socratic philosophers whom established that some material (like water for Thales) or immaterial elements (like Nous for Anaxagoras) are responsible for the existence of everything in the universe. The process of the epistemologists attempting to respond to the outrageous claims of these sceptics was what then gave way to the existence of the epistemic schools of rationalism and empiricism. This clearly presents doubt (or the act of doubting) as the major element or ingredient upon which any epistemological activity holds ground. However, there remains the argument whether it is either rationalism or empiricism (or maybe both) that can adequately fulfil the task of epistemology as a theory of cognition.
What Rationalism Entails: The Rallying (Common) Factors of Continental Rationalists
One of the major characteristics of rationalistic philosophy is the use of deductive arguments that are modelled after mathematical proofs. While Leibniz did not push this approach to the extreme that Spinoza did, he still shared Descartes’ drive for certainty. Leibniz writes, “…although I am one of those who have done much work on mathematics, I have constantly meditated on philosophy from my youth up, for it has always seemed to me that in philosophy there was a way of establishing something solid by means of clear proofs”.
Another distinguishing feature of rationalist philosophers during the 17th century is that they constructed elaborate metaphysical systems in their efforts to solve longstanding philosophical puzzles. Leibniz has the most elaborate of these. However, underlying its intricacy, his philosophical system is driven by one key assumption; “God maximizes his creative abilities”. Everything God performs as creator is done in the most perfect, desirable, unified, and orderly way possible. This is evident in creation’s ultra-high level of structural complexity and also in its perfect goodness.
