Philosophy / Unit 2 Philosophy 0066 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Rationalism
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The idea
Rationalism holds that reason is a genuine source of substantive knowledge about reality—some truths are knowable independent of the senses.
In practice
Descartes and Leibniz argued that mathematics and metaphysics rest on innate ideas the mind brings to experience.
Where people slip
Rationalists do not reject the senses; they deny the senses are the whole story.
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