Rationalism

As with any controversial topic, there are many different approaches people will employ and identify with. On the topic of Jesus’ Resurrection, Fideism, Strong Theological Rationalism and Critical Theological Rationalism are three main categories of logic Christians seeking to defend the Resurrection could fall into, and each possesses a specific set of standards for having that belief. Those who fall into the first category, Fideists, believe strongly that faith is the only…

American Exceptionalism, the idea that the United States and its citizens are superior to all other countries, is a driving force in American society today, which is both positive and negative. As foreshadowed in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the early poetry of Phyllis Wheatley, and the work of playwright Arthur Miller, the idea that America is better than other countries has developed and flourished to become a recurring theme in politics today. As Robert R. Tomes states in his essay American…

Cartesian Dualism, a theory coined by Rene Descartes and examined within his sixth mediation of Meditations of First Philosophy, explains and theorizes the idea of the mind and body as two distinct substances. The theory states that the mind is not merely a physical brain as another organ of the body, but rather the non-materialistic mind and material body are two different entities. The body, having elements of extension have a reality with spatial relevance as it entails form, texture,…

Truth is found within; truth is relative; truth is believing in one’s own reality. Amy Hempel's short story “The Harvest,” Alexander Pope’s poem “An Essay on Man,” and John Keats’, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” shed light on how to find truth, what it is, and what it isn’t. “An Essay on Man” uses rationalist idealism to convey that the reader must trust their instincts. That is essentially what Pope’s thesis is, “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.” One…

In Section 7, Dostoevsky expands his attack against scientific rationalism, utilitarianism, specifically starting from against their assumptions of humans' acting solely for their profits. Historically speaking, according to what Richard Pevear stated in the book's Foreword, Dostoevsky feared the "Giftlessness" embodied by Nikolai Chernyshevsky back to the nineteenth century. As one of the beliefs rooted in "Giftlessness", Chernyshevsky considers that men are basically good and always search…

Moby Dick was inspired by events that took place when a one legged captain reached to the ends of the Earth in a revenge ridden search for the whale that took his limb and his sanity. This story was brought to life by the American writer that eventually had his story called an American epic by his hero Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville was not only a renowned writer of Hawthorne but was also a whaler which inspired him to hunt this story. Not only did Melville admire the art of whaling but he had a…

organized in three approaches: administrative rationalism, democratic pragmatism, and economic rationalism. These three discourses follow a reformist and prosaic category as they work within the current industrial economy and do not advocate for radical changes, rather they advocate for slow and steady changes that provide little adjustment. The primary differentiation between the three discourses is in who should handle the…

Rationalism is a way of getting to the truth using only the logic of our minds, not including sensory input. The major strength of Rationalism is its universality. If I can think something is true, you can too! The lack of interest Rationalism has in sensory input is definitely a weakness. There are senses such as taste that cannot be proved by logic alone. Rene Descartes had a theory about wax and rationalism, called The Wax Argument. Descartes suggests that when we see, touch, or smell wax…

their principles, affirming religious beliefs and the amount of evidence needed to affirm said beliefs. Critical rationalism, fideism, and strong rationalism are the three positions and they all have been discussed by different philosophers and people throughout the years. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses and ways of rationally affirming their beliefs. Strong Rationalism believes that it is rational to affirm a belief system only when there is sufficient evidence to prove in…

Classical Greek was an important period. There were many creative and architectural advances that happened in Athens. Greek sculptures and architectect had abstract characteristics and reflected ideas of humanism and rationalism. One of the most significant architectural piece of Greek culture is the Parthenon. The Parthenon was created by Iktinos and Kallikrates in 440 BCE. The building was created with columns and was symmetrical. The Parthenon was smaller than former civilizations…