Rationalism in modern philosophy
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One of the fundamental elements of modern thought is the confrontation between Rationalism and Empiricism. The origin of this philosophical debate was originated by Rene Descartes who defended the presence of innate ideas in human knowledge. This movement was opposed to Empiricism and was firmly defended by other philosophers such as Malebranche, Spinoza or Leibniz. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will discuss the basic questions of Rationalism in modern philosophy.
We define "Rationalism" as the philosophical movement born in the modern age what do you think the reason alone, regardless of experience, can come to possess full knowledge. René Descartes tries to break with the Greek tradition, initiating Modernity in the philosophical field.
The fundamental concept of the modern rationalist proposal is that of Innate Idea, that is, that knowledge that we possess by the mere fact of existing without there having been any process of sensible experience that explains that we have this knowledge. Descartes explains it by trying to prove the existence of God.
Discardsaffirms that all of us have within us the concepts of eternity, perfection and infinity. However, we have not had any experience of any of these concepts, and furthermore I am neither perfect, neither infinite nor eternal, so this knowledge must be innate, put in my mind by God.
As we have seen, one of the great novelties of Descartes's thought is that philosophy in the first person singular, since I only know my personal experience.
This is the founding act of Rationalism in modern philosophy, as well as of the confrontation with empiricism, that he considers that the only source of knowledge is sensible experience. Descartes does not deny validity to sensitive knowledge, so important in the field of the new science that emerged after the work of Copernicus, but He considers that knowledge is legitimized by the existence of God and by the capacity for knowledge of reason outside of experience sensitive.
To know this question well, it must be borne in mind that Descartes is a mathematician and scientist who wants to give foundation to this new science. Thus, he considers that sensible experience does not play any role when it comes to knowing mathematics, since knowledge is reached through reason. The new science that emerged from the Copernican revolution and the work of Galileo establishes, on the one hand, a great importance to the empirical observation and, on the other, establishes the need to create purely rational mathematical models that explain reality experienced.
Descartes has a clear concern for the method of science, a new way of doing science to replace the Aristotelian (this concern already existed in the thought of Francis Bacon). Descartes proposes an evidence-based method, which allows him to doubt, provisionally, all sources of knowledge (sensitivity and mathematics) until he reaches that evident truth that is his own existence. Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I exist).
In this video from a TEACHER you will see a lesson on difference between empiricism and rationalism.
Other rationalist authors would be Nicolas Malebranche, which we can qualify as a Cartesian philosopher, who establishes a fundamental role of God in every process of knowledge. On the other hand we have two fundamental authors that can be included within Rationalism:
Baruch spinoza He is one of the most prominent rationalist philosophers, one of the most important aspects of his philosophical thought arises from the idea of substance, which following the definition already established by Aristotle as the being that is capable of existing by itself, the only possible substance is God, and Spinoza will identify it with nature: thus, Spinoza formulates a philosophical approach pantheistic. There is only God. God and nature are the same thing.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is also a rationalist philosopher, but he does not believe in the existence of a single substance, but he affirms the existence of infinite substances which he will call monads, which have in their interior all the possible knowledge in the form of innate ideas, that is why he will say that the monads are have Windows.
