rationalism
Americannoun
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the principle or habit of accepting reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief, or conduct.
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Philosophy.
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the doctrine that reason alone is a source of knowledge and is independent of experience.
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(in the philosophies of Descartes, Spinoza, etc.) the doctrine that all knowledge is expressible in self-evident propositions or their consequences.
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Theology. the doctrine that human reason, unaided by divine revelation, is an adequate or the sole guide to all attainable religious truth.
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Architecture.
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a design movement principally of the mid-19th century that emphasized the development of modern ornament integrated with structure and the decorative use of materials and textures rather than as added adornment.
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the doctrines and practices of this movement.
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noun
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reliance on reason rather than intuition to justify one's beliefs or actions
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philosophy
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the doctrine that knowledge about reality can be obtained by reason alone without recourse to experience
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the doctrine that human knowledge can all be encompassed within a single, usually deductive, system
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the school of philosophy initiated by Descartes which held both the above doctrines
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the belief that knowledge and truth are ascertained by rational thought and not by divine or supernatural revelation
Other Word Forms
- antirationalism noun
- antirationalist noun
- antirationalistic adjective
- nonrationalism noun
- nonrationalist noun
- nonrationalistic adjective
- nonrationalistical adjective
- nonrationalistically adverb
- rationalist noun
- rationalistic adjective
- rationalistical adjective
- rationalistically adverb
Etymology
Origin of rationalism
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A computer science major with an interest in rationalism, self-improvement and effective altruism — a philosophical movement that uses evidence and reason to help others — Mangione enthused about technological innovation.
From Los Angeles Times
Liberals tend to suffer from what I call naïve rationalism — the belief that political behavior, like voting, is driven by a sober assessment of the facts.
From Salon
Prof Selove said: "This MA will allow people to re-examine the assumption that the West is the place of rationalism and science, while the rest of the world is a place of magic and superstition."
From BBC
Oakeshott was horrified by this, and was also disturbed by the postwar British welfare state; this was the impetus for his denunciation of political rationalism.
From Salon
But it's not an incident caused by just one crazy person, but it happened because of social factors — an extreme rationalism that we have in society.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
