RATIONALISM

MAGNAYE, JAYSON A.

Philosophical Foundations of Education

PROFESSOR AMELIA ILAGAN
RATIONALISM
• A philosophical movement which gathered
momentum during the Age of Reason of the 17th
Century.
• It is usually associated with the introduction
of mathematical methods into philosophy during this
period by the major rationalist figures, Descartes, 
Leibniz and Spinoza.
Rationalists believe that, rather than being
a "tabula rasa" to be imprinted with sense data,
our mind is structured by, and responds to, using
reasoning. Some of our knowledge or
the concepts we employ are part of our innate
rational nature.
In rationalism,
knowledge is acquired in three ways:
• Deduction
• Innate Ideas
• Reason
DEDUCTION
applying principles to draw conclusions.

For example, finding the area of a rectangle. For

any rectangle, the same principle is applied to
find the area.
INNATE IDEAS
Ideas that we're born with, and in
some ways, shape our personality.
REASON
Using logic to arrive at a conclusion.
Implication of rationalism
in education
It applies primarily to logic and mathematics,
meaning that there is a calculated and reasoned
approach to conclusions or the truth.
EXAMPLE:
• Let's take the biblical story of the Judgment of Solomon. Solomon had
to resolve a dispute between two women who claimed to be the
mother of a baby. Since this was long before DNA testing, Solomon
ordered that the baby be cut in half.
• Upon hearing this, one of the women cried out not to harm the child
and to let the other woman take the baby. Solomon concluded
through logic that the woman who cried out to spare the child was
actually the child's mother because the mother would rather the child
live than win an argument.
EXAMPLE:
Math provides a good illustration of
rationalism: to a rationalist, you don’t have to
observe the world or have experiences in order
to know that 1+1=2. You just have to understand
the concepts “one” and “addition,” and then you
can know that it’s true.
EXAMPLE:
All Philosophy professors are intelligent.
Dr. Amelia Ilagan is a Philosophy Professor.
Therefore, Dr. Amelia Ilagan is intelligent.
EXAMPLE:
Last slide is the end of every presentation.
This is my last slide.
Therefore, this is the end of my presentation.
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!