Rationalism

Rationalism in philosophy refers to the beliefs that human being are rational and that knowledge is obtained by reason.

Plato was a rationalist, meaning he believed that the human soul was predominantly guided by reason.

・To Plato, the soul is defined as “the mind and thought.” This is important to note as each philosopher has a differing definition of many key terms like this.

-> It is important to note: in philosophy, when arguing a point, you must both be sure of the other person discussing it and their definition of words, as well as clearly define your own definitions. For debates, a general and shared definition should be compromised upon. You cannot argue the soul is rational with two different definitions of the soul and reason.

・Plato believed human souls were uniquely tripartite (meaning that they were comprised of three parts). He outlines this in his ‘Allegory of the Chariot,’ which is part of his greater work, Phaedrus.

Click here to read an overview of Plato's 'Allegory of the Chariot.'

・As suggested by the work’s name, Plato uses a charioteer as a metaphor for the soul. He believed the soul was comprised of what he refers to as a dark horse, a white horse, and a charioteer.

・The dark horse represents basic or physical desire, while the white horse represents things like social recognition. The charioteer represents our voice of reason.

・Plato argued that Gods have perfect reason. They are able to perfectly balance and control their two horses. He stated that we are humans due to our inability to balance said horses, and we fall to earth by valuing one over the other. To rise again we must find this balance.

・Plato also argued that the immortal parts of us are the most important, meaning the dark and white horse.

・The dark horse, representing physical desire, makes us slave to biology, says plato. It robs us of dignity and causes sloth, laziness, etc.

・The white horse, representing the desire for social recognition, makes us slave to others’ opinion of us. It robs us of our True Self, and causes vanity and aggression.

・Plato was also the first objectivist (as opposed to a relativist), meaning he argued there was one truth, and he argued this could only be obtained via reason.

・In Plato’s ‘Simile of the Line’ theory, he outlines various concepts and their importance/relevance, at least in his opinion.

・The higher up on the list, Plato argued, the better. He said that the ability to reason provides forms, which are perfect and unchanging, objective and true. He claimed that physical things were simply flawed reflection of an ideal, perfect form.

・Plato also argued that the abstract was better than concrete, and that knowledge held more value than opinion, as knowledge was objective truth.

・In Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave,’ he states that we are willfully ignorant and even violent towards anything that threatens our dogmas (unquestioned beliefs). Click here to view a video on Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave.'

St. Augustine was born to a Christian mother, and his father was 'pagan,' which at the time simply meant anything other than Christian. He believed that reason was divine and the physical could not be trusted.

・Augustine was a very gifted scholar, having a mastery of latin at 11, and his parents sent him to Carthage to study.

・He wrote about his religious conversion in his work, 'Confessions.'

・Augustine was heavily influential in shaping the Christian church. He was notable for his Biblical interpretations, which merged Platonic and Christian thought. It is interesting to note, however, that Augustine never directly read Plato.

・In other words, Augustine mimicked Plato's thinking with a more Christian perspective. This is significant as many of the philosophers at the time were Christian, and at the time philosophical scholarship was predominantly what we would consider to be pagan, as in based in pantheon worship. Plato, for example, was a Greek polytheist.

・In Plato's theory of forms, Plato argued that, in this order, things were legitimate: ideal forms, concepts, sensible object, images. In other words, ideal or perfect godly forms were more 'valid' than concepts, which were more valuable than objects, which were more valuable than images (perceptions).

・Likewise, Augustine argued that, in this order, things were legitimate: god, goodness, earthly creation, sin.

・In other words, Augustine argued that the most perfect thing was God, with the second most important being following God's will with a legitimacy, then earthly creation, followed by sin.

・Augustine believed, based on Biblical tenants, that human nature is sinful due to curiosity, weakness, and disobedience; he believed human nature was capable of salvation due to being able to follow God's will via discipline, choice, and reason.

Rene Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who is quoted by some to be the 'Father of Modern Philosophy.'

・In perhaps his most famous work, Meditations (1641), Descartes popularized the phrase Cogito Ergo Sum (or, I think therefore I am).

・This is also where he described his metaphysics, or, in other words, began to question what the nature of reality truly is.

・Descartes engaged with both local doubts (questioning individual ideas) as well as global doubts (whether anything at all is real), and had a 'bad apple' mentality regarding knowledge. Meaning, he believed one false piece of knowledge spoiled all knowledge.

・In his First Meditation, he begins by stating that everything perceived by senses could be false. He says this comes to be because the world is a deception by the Devil, as God is good and therefore would not perform such a deception.

Basic logic principles are the foundation of philosophical reasoning.

Epistemology — the study of knowledge.

・Reason must be self-evident. Self-evident truths are the foundation of reason.

Foundationalists — sought the core of an argument and how it can bring us new knowledge.

A priori statements — self evident, ie: all bachelors are unmarried.

A posteriori statements — need evidence in order to be true, ie: it is sunny outside.

Law of Identity — a subject is equal to the sum of its predicates.

・ie: a = a, no predicate can be denied AND attributed to a subject.

Law of Excluded Middle — Contradiction, or: Of every two opposite contradictory predicates, one must belong to every subject.

・ie: yes and no, right and wrong.

Principle of Sufficient Reason — the truth is the reference of a judgement to something outside of itself as sufficient reason / ground.