Rationalism
Definition
Rationalism describes any philosophy that claims that beliefs and opinions should always be logical, deductive conclusions rather than being based on experience, observations, religious teachings, or divine revelation.
Keywords: Rationalism, Philosophy, Logical, Reasoning, Deductive, Experience, Observations, Religious, Revelation, Contradictory.
Veracity
Rationalistic claims are false .
Proof
All self-refuting or contradictory claims are deductively false.
Premise 1: Only deductive conclusions should be believed.
Premise 2: Premise 1, being the foundation or starting point of the philosophy, is not itself a deductive conclusion.
Conclusion: Therefore, premise 1, also known as "rationalism", should not be believed.
Rationalistic claims, when adhered to, require the rejection of rationalistic claims. To accept them is to reject them, making rationalism inherently contradictory and deductively false.
Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons
Riveting, yet absurd; romantic, yet innocent; Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons is a little Roald Dahl, a little Harry Potter, and a little Chronicles of Narnia, all rolled into one. Timothy McCabe collaborates with the great Benedict Ballyhoot to bring you the novel of the century!
In Printed Form
Along with numerous other authors including Don Landis, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Timothy McCabe contributes analyses of various world religions and cults in this volume from Master Books.
Other Writings
"If God really did create everything, how would anyone know?"
From a Christian perspective, we recognize that God created everything because He has told us that He did (Romans 1:19; Genesis 1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16); indeed, apart from divine revelation, it is impossible to know anything at all. After all, since God created everything, and "everything" includes knowledge, our knowledge is ultimately created by God, and God's provision of knowledge to us is the very definition of divine revelation.
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"What is your standard of truth? How do you determine what is true?"
1. God Himself is the standard of truth. (John 14:6; Exodus 34:6; 2 Samuel 7:28; Psalm 25:10; Isaiah 65:16; Ephesians 4:21; Titus 1:2; 1 John 5:6) 2. Because of this, when God reveals things to us, we know that what He reveals is true. The Bible stands as an authoritative communication to us from God Himself, and we can often discern truth or falsehood simply by comparing a particular claim with Biblical revelation.
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"Can you know anything independently of what god has revealed to you?"
The short answer is no. But depending on exactly how the words in the question are defined, that could make a difference in how the question is answered. KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is generally understood to at least require justified, true belief. It may entail more than that, but it at least requires those elements. What this means is that if someone is justified in believing something, but that something is false, then it cannot correctly be said that they "know" it.
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