What is Rationalism?

Watch this video to gain an awareness on the fundamentals of Rationalism. In it, you will
learn that Rationalism is based on what is rational, logical, and provable.

Why do I need to learn Rationalism?

As mentioned in WIKI: Fundamentals of Philosophy, Rationalism is part of the branch of
Epistemology. It asks you to look into how you know what you know. It asks you to make
conclusions about yourself and the world around you.

In order to fully understand yourself, you will need to know how your beliefs and opinions
came to be; how you act upon them—how this ultimately affects how you interact with
other people.

Gaining a deeper understanding on all these will allow you to live a more meaningful life.

What does Rationalism “look” like?

There are three major theses (or theories based on this particular belief) that define
Rationalism. They are the following:

The Intuition/Deduction Thesis

According to Rationalism, there is some Knowledge that is already innately within us
through Intuition. Examples of these are our knowledge of Good and Evil, certain
Mathematical concepts, the idea of a "higher being", etc.

The Innate Knowledge Thesis

Another theory that Rationalism gives us is that we are rational human beings by our very
nature (which is why it's called "innate"), and because of this, our Knowledge is rational. So,
when we experience new things, our already-existing knowledge is triggered and helps us
understand these new experiences.

The Innate Concept Thesis

Similar to the previous thesis, this thesis also talks about how Concept is innate within us.
Knowledge is something that we know, Concept is something that we understand (even
theoretically) without having to know it for sure. For example: We can see what a perfect
triangle looks like in our mind, even if we can't create one on our own. (Plato's "Allegory of
the Cave" touches on this.)
How does Rationalism “work”?
In Rationalism, knowledge is a priori, or, "before knowledge". It says that original ideas are
already within you. For rationalists, knowledge already exists and is independent of
experiences.

Rationalism is a kind of philosophy that focuses on an intellectual approach to obtaining

and understanding knowledge. It relies on deductive reasoning to explain and justify
concepts.

When we say deductive, we reason using a general idea to get to a more specific one. For
example: we encounter a concept, observe what we can given an application of the
concept, then make conclusions that either confirm or disprove the concept.

Additional Resources
Can We Be Certain of Anything? (Descartes) - 8-Bit Philosophy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDNCv-ob87E
This video will briefly explain the arguments posed by Rene Descartes, the leading
proponent of Rationalism.

Do Humans Operate Like Computers? (Kant) - 8-Bit Philosophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tf6BS9B2pY
This video will briefly explain the arguments posed by Immanuel Kant, another proponent
of Rationalism