Making rationalism a household word again.
Posted by deleted 11 years ago to Philosophy
At the turn of the 20th Century, rational thought was accepted in America. Now emotional clap-trap clouds our vision. How can we return to reason? Where do we start?
The method of rationalism: separation of ideas from reality; improper reliance on deduction from axioms; false demand for “comprehensiveness” and “system”; tendency to intrinsicism. Rationalist polemics.
The method of empiricism: improper emphasis on concretes; rejection of axioms and of hierarchy of knowledge; tendency to subjectivism. Empiricist polemics.
Objectivism vs. rationalism and empiricism: ideas as means of knowing reality; integrating percepts and concepts; the primacy of induction. System without rationalism. Knowledge without omniscience. Cognitive options without subjectivism. Objectivist polemics.
this is a cut/paste from Peikoff's website, on a subject written about and discussed for decades...at least the decades i've been around and is a BIG and important subject. just a place to start if you're interested in Rationalism, ie, not Objectivism. if you goog it your rainy days will be filled