Rationalism

AbstractIn its most general sense, rationalism originates in Socratic self‐examination, namely, in the critical investigation of commonly held opinions and beliefs. In a more specific sense, classical (pre‐seventeenth‐century) rationalism originates in the philosophy of Plato (theory of Forms). Modern rationalism originates in the work of René Descartes, Benedict Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. However, with specific relevance to political philosophy, modern rationalism takes its impetus from Immanuel Kant's notion of critique and from the complex and, sometimes, irreconcilable cluster of ideas that is called the Enlightenment. Kant denies that reason can provide us with knowledge about metaphysical issues. Instead, reason can improve experience and the actual world of politics.