Rationalism, also known as the rationalist movement, is a philosophical doctrine that asserts that the truth should be determined by reason and factual analysis, rather than faith, dogma or religious teaching. Rationalism has some similarities in ideology and intent to secular humanism and atheism, in that it aims to provide a framework for social and philosophical discourse outside of religious or supernatural beliefs; however, rationalism differs from both of these, in that:
As its name suggests, humanism is centered around human society and achievements. Rationalism makes no claims that humans are more important than animals or any other part of nature. There are some rationalists who strongly oppose the anthropocentric philosophy of humanism.
Atheism is the condition of being without theistic beliefs and alternatively the disbelief in or denial of deities; rationalism makes no statement either way regarding the actual existence of god although it rejects any belief based on faith alone. Although there is a strong atheistic influence in modern rationalism, with prominent rational scientists such as Richard Dawkins holding atheistic views, not all rationalists are atheists, and there is a greater compatibility with agnosticism (which asserts that the existence of god is irrelevant or indeterminable) than strong atheism.
Outside of religious discussion, the discipline of rationalism may be applied more generally, for example to political or social issues. In these cases it is the rejection of emotion, tradition or fashionable belief which is the defining feature of the rationalist perspective.
During the middle of the twentieth century there was a strong tradition of organised rationalism, which was particularly influenced by free thinkers and intellectuals.
Modern rationalism has little in common with the historical philosophy of continental rationalism expounded by René Descartes. Indeed, a reliance on empirical science is often considered a hallmark of modern rationalism, whereas Continental Rationalism rejected empiricism entirely.
A group of rationalists on Friday demonstrated against a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa that is being cited by the Vatican for her beatification.
The rationalists have described as "bunkum" the claim that an Indian tribal woman was cured of a tubercular tumour after she prayed to the revered nun in 1998.
A rationalist group in the state says a woman reportedly cured of cancer by placing a photograph of the nun on her stomach had subsequently received treatment in government hospitals.
Rationalists, such as Descartes, have claimed that we can know by intuition and deduction that God exists and created the world, that our mind and body are distinct substances, and that the angles of a triangle equal two right angles, where all of these claims are truths about an external reality independent of our thought.
Rationalists who assert the existence of innate knowledge are not just claiming that, as a matter of human evolution, God's design or some other factor, at a particular point in our development, certain sorts of experiences trigger our belief in particular propositions in a way that does not involve our learning them from the experiences.
Rationalists have responded to the second part of the empiricist attack on the Innate Concept thesis--the empricists' claim that the thesis is without basis, as all our ideas can be explained as derived from experience--by focusing on difficulties in the empiricists' attempts to give such an explanation.
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