For centuries, scientists and philosophers have argued, is it possible to achieve absolute truth, is humanity able to fully cognize the world in which it lives? In order to gain reliable knowledge about the world around us, it is customary to use sensualism (sensual cognition) or rationalism (rational cognition). Many copies are broken by learned men, in an attempt to understand which of them is more correct, but the final verdict is not yet passed. What is rationalism?
What is rational cognition?
Rationalism or rational cognition is a way of obtaining information, based on information obtained with the help of reason. This is its difference from sensationalism, which puts emphasis on feelings. The name comes from the Latin word ratio. Now a point of view is accepted, according to which the world is cognized, and rationalism and sensationalism are necessary parts of this process.
Rational Knowledge Philosophy
Rational knowledge in philosophy is a way to make the process of studying the object of research more impartial, independent of the individual attitude of the researcher, the adherents of rationalism were Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel and other philosophers. They stated that sensory perception can give only initial information that does not always reflect real reality, therefore only the mind should be used at higher levels of cognition.
Types of rational knowledge
Conditionally rational level of cognition can be divided into two types, differently studying the object.
- Value-humanitarian . As the name implies, this subspecies of rationalism is associated with such seemingly irrational objects as culture and the meanings enclosed in it by mankind. But this is a superficial point of view. In order to understand the meaning in a particular creation, to understand the message of the creator, or, conversely, to attach this meaning and make the message understandable, it is necessary, including rational cognition.
- Logical and conceptual . This kind of knowledge operates with abstract, "ideal" objects and is aimed at revealing interrelations and common characteristics. The most effective is applied in technical, mathematical, natural and social sciences.
Rational cognition of symptoms
Rational knowledge of the world operates with the following tools:
- identification of common characteristics of cognizable objects;
- abstractness from their individual characteristics;
- the use of forms of knowledge associated with the thought process;
- communication with the language.
Forms of rational knowledge
Even ancient scientists distinguished the basic forms of rational knowledge: concept, judgment, inference. Each of them is important and significant, but from the point of view of the complexity of mental processes, the highest form of rational cognition is inference.
- The concept is the name of the object of study, which necessarily has characteristics: volume - the totality of objects bearing this name, and the content - all the signs describing them. The concept should be precise, unambiguous and not carrying evaluative characteristics.
- The proposition . It connects concepts with each other, represents a complete thought that can be true (the Sun is a star), false (the Sun revolves around the Earth) or neutral (a trip by car). Each proposition must have three elements: the subject of judgment - what is said can be indicated by the letter S; predicate - what is said about the subject is denoted by P; a bunch, in Russian is often omitted or replaced by a dash.
- Inference is the highest and most complex level of rationalism, representing the correct conclusions from the connection of several judgments. The most difficult thing is that the conclusion must be made with all possible nuances and relationships of judgments taken into account and must be proven. The judgments on the basis of which the conclusion is made are called parcels.
Methods of rational knowledge
Three forms of rational cognition operate with special methods of studying objects that are inherent only in rationalism.
- Idealization - giving an object that is available in the real world some ideal for such an object, characteristics.
- Formalization is a way of creating abstract images with the help of logical thinking. It is used to create formulas that describe certain real phenomena.
- The axiomatic method is based on constructing inferences from statements that do not require proof.
- The hypothetico-deductive method is a statement derived from unproven statements.
- Experiment . The essence of rational cognition in the method of a mental experiment is that experiments on an ideal object are carried out in mind.
- Historical and logical methods are closely interconnected and represent the study of the object from the point of view of its history, i.e. What he was at a certain point in time, and logic, that is, the laws of its development.