Philosophy debunked: making the sensible, sensible (in 500 words or less)
This is the part of the newsletter where we take a particular philosopher/philosophical theory/term and debunk it, to take it, and make it (hopefully) in some way more understandable, less wordy, but also interesting (and maybe give you something to show off to the boss/significant other with). For me, and us (at the Philosophy Takeaway), this is what philosophy is/should be, anyway (when it's not just written for: a) stuffy, dust-covered academics, to show how big their brains are - by their being able to understand and use such terms, and b) to give a reason why they're single, and most probably will die alone - by their having to spend so much time learning what these terms mean, and having none left over for a social life, which is something, again, we, at the Philosophy Takeaway, too, only know too well.
Now, without further ado, Rationalism (in 500 words or less). Rationalism is the philosophical school whereby we can simply come to the knowledge of things by the use of our logic alone. Using deductive reasoning - that is to use our intellect, we can see the truth of propositions, such as those of mathematics (like 1+1=2), but also, in some cases, of the truth of things outside this analytic (of things being true in themselves) framework, and is also extended to such things like the existence of God (this being opposed to Empiricism, whereby knowledge/truth is derived by induction- that is, acquiring knowledge from experience and the sensations we derive from the world). Because of this intellectual capability, Rationalists also believe that there are such things as innate principles (of there being things that we can know before experience), due to this inbuilt capability of our being able to find truth, without having to experience it. Another prominent feature of Rationalism, therefore, is the mind/body distinction; Rationalists, in the most part, are also Dualists, which means they see the mind and body as being two separate, distinct, things (and also view the mind as being more important), as it is through the mind that we come to know things about the world. Some examples of Rationalists include Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz; a good text to help understand Rationalism further would be Descartes’ “Meditations on First Philosophy”. And there you have it, Rationalism in 500 words or less!
And now for some Takeaway Teasers
I) Descartes takes his date for the night, a young Spinoza, to a posh restaurant, after the two of them had a falling out over Descartes’ mind/body Dualism, to make it up to him. Them both being Rationalists, they thought it best to go out, as logically, this would preclude there being any washing up afterwards, and would also allow for more time for the playing around with candle wax for the both of them. The waiter seats and hands them the wine list, with Spinoza then asking to order the most expensive bottle on the list, citing the fact that, due to their both being expressions of the same one substance, God, it would be as though, in a roundabout way, he (Spinoza) would be paying as well. To this, with a knowing glare, Descartes chortles: "I think not!", and *POOF* he disappears, leaving Spinoza the bill.
Perry Smith
