What is Rationalism?
{{about|the philosophical position and movement|text=It is not to be confused with [[Rationality]].}} [[File:Frans Hals - Portret van René Descartes.jpg|thumb|[[René Descartes]] was a main rationalist philosopher]] '''Rationalism''' is the view that [[reason]]ing by itself is a source of [[knowledge]] or proof.<ref>Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy'', 1st edition, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976. 2nd edition, 1986. 3rd edition, Routledge, London, UK, 1996. p. 286</ref> It is a [[philosophical movement]] that began in the [[17th century]], but the same ideas were also talked about before then. Rationalist philosophers believe that all knowledge can be understood through a process of reasoning, without any external sources. They do not believe that human beings can understand everything this way, but that it is theoretically possible. Rationalist philosophers attempt to understand ideas like [[God]] and the [[soul]] in this manner. The first people to talk about rationalism were [[Marin Mersenne]] and [[René Descartes]], of the [[Age of Enlightenment]] in the [[17th century|17th]] and [[18th century|18th]] centuries. Other philosophers who are seen as rationalist today include [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[Gottfried Leibniz]] and [[Immanuel Kant]]. Famous people opposed to this idea were [[David Hume]] and [[John Locke]]. These opponents favored a view called [[empiricism]]. Rationalism also influenced [[natural law]]. Natural law is a theory that says that there are [[law]]s given by [[nature]], valid everywhere. [[Deism]] was also influenced by rationalism. According to deism, a supreme being created the universe. This being, and other religious truths can be determined by observing nature, and finding natural laws. This would make religions that are based on [[revelation]] unnecessary. == References == {{reflist}} {{stub}} {{Philosophy topics}} [[Category:Epistemology]] [[Category:Philosophical movements and positions]]