Isn’t the standard formulation of “Rationalism” that all information can arrive at by rational cogitation, without having to rely on sensory experience?
Yes, I know no one sane believes that formulation these days.
That’s traditional rationalism of the Cartesian variety, but it’s not what a contemporary philosopher would mean if she called herself a rationalist. I can guarantee that the vast majority of the respondents to the PhilPapers survey who answered “rationalism” to this question do not believe that one can arrive at all information without having to rely on sensory experience.
Empiricism: Our only source of novel information about the world is sensory experience.
Rationalism: There is some information about the world that we can arrive at by rational cogitation, without having to rely on sensory experience.
Isn’t the standard formulation of “Rationalism” that all information can arrive at by rational cogitation, without having to rely on sensory experience?
Yes, I know no one sane believes that formulation these days.
That’s traditional rationalism of the Cartesian variety, but it’s not what a contemporary philosopher would mean if she called herself a rationalist. I can guarantee that the vast majority of the respondents to the PhilPapers survey who answered “rationalism” to this question do not believe that one can arrive at all information without having to rely on sensory experience.