Malizia 1

Travis Malizia

Mr. Buescher

Philosophy Period 5

16 March 2017

Rationalism Brings Understanding

What we choose to believe is always based off of some way we not only perceive but

interpret as well. Epistemology is how one defines knowledge. This is an issue because existence

is debatably impossible to prove, people can be deceived and senses can be tricked. It is therefore

up to the individual to decide how they choose to accept knowledge. Epistemology is the theory

of how or if we can know anything. Three such ways of accepting knowledge are skepticism,

rationalism, and empiricism. Skepticism is the idea that knowledge is unobtainable; rationalism

is the idea that we can obtain knowledge through reason; and empiricism is the concept that we

can only know what's true by perceiving its existence with our senses. Rationalism is the theory

that makes the most sense due to the ability to speculate beyond what is seen, its ability to not

ignore other forms of knowledge such as senses, and the quality of reason that it brings.

Rationalism allows us to go beyond our hands and eyes to make possible discoveries

through thought. We are able to know things without seeing them. People have become able to

figure things out without having to do something to prove them. Weather it’s a math problem

that defines how much fuel a rocket will use in four hours of flight, or how a bird is able to fly,

people are able to learn things without sensing their truth. If people chose to only rely on their

senses, limited knowledge could be obtained. Atoms are known about because somebody had

thought up that everything must be made of basic building blocks. Logically, they were unflawed

in thinking that their had to be a smallest unit of something. There may still be issues with how it
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is believed that atoms act, as we are incapable of observing them perfectly, but many great

forward movements have been achieved due to the knowledge we have obtained through rational

thought. Someone who is not a rationalist may point out that human thought is limited and that

people time and time again have been wrong. Although that is true, it would have been

impossible for the human race to have as many luxuries if we did not speculate on the possibility

that things are different than we saw them to be. Although rationalism allows us to go beyond

senses, it doesn’t entirely rule them out.

Rationalism is useful by itself but it also avoids using pure thought to obtain knowledge.

Rationalism only states that intellect is the primary source of knowledge. It does not rule out the

possibility that we can learn from seeing or hearing something. It simply states that reason is the

most effective way of knowing. Like skepticism, rationalism still provokes questions.

Rationalism does not cap off what we know, it allows for there to be room for advancements

based upon the knowledge we can obtain. If a new idea makes more sense than an old one, the

new one is accepted due to the doubts people had. Oftentimes, knowing what to look for leads to

the perception of that which is true. Rationalism can cause people to look for and find the proof

of what a rationalist has already determined to be true. This therefore allows for knowledge to be

obtained because of intellect. The fact that rationalism cannot determine things on its own may

turn people away. Rationalism, however, works better to obtain knowledge than others. That

which must be true, is true. Rationalism uses thought to prove things, the sole basis of this

thought is reason and logic.

Rationalism is highly based off of reason. Reason is what leads to discovery. If there is

something that makes an extreme amount of sense and all evidence points towards it yet cannot

prove it, it is considered to be true. Referring to what has been stated earlier, atoms aren’t
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perfect, yet the understanding of them is how it currently is. The way society has believed them

to be has changed many times and may change more in the future. For the current time being,

current acceptance of them works extremely well. Everything that is true will have reason behind

it. If something is unreasonable, it is either false or has yet to be comprehended. That which

makes no sense is either misunderstood or wrong. Logic corrects false thinking. The mind is not

perfect and oftentimes it has it flaws. Logical thought aids in making sure that no idea is

accepted if it is wrong. An argument against this is that logic is only a form of thinking that is

based on what others already accept as true. What people accept as true in any theory is based

solely upon whether it is logical to them. Rationalism simply adds a prior basis of thought before

a person’s logic is questioned. Rationalism is not without its flaws, but in the bigger picture of all

things, rationalism works well.

Rationalism makes sense due to the quality of reason that it brings, it does not ignore

other forms of obtaining knowledge, and provides the ability to speculate beyond what is seen.

People are able to know what they have not seen yet still learn from what they do see and prove

such matters through reason. The topics covered by this essay are geared towards filling in the

some of the gaps in rationalism that one may see from the outside. Reason ultimately brings the

most realistic proof obtainable once one has obtained all the information they can. Perhaps there

is no best way of accepting knowledge, but all must choose what they will believe.