rationalism
UK/ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəlɪzəm/
rationalism noun: the theory that reason is a source of knowledge independent of and superior to sense perception.
Noun
rationalism (countable and uncountable, plural rationalisms)
- The theory that reason is a source of knowledge independent of and superior to sense perception.
- The theory that knowledge may be derived by deductions from a priori concepts (such as axioms, postulates or earlier deductions).
- A view that the fundamental method for problem solving is through reason and experience rather than faith, inspiration, revelation, intuition or authority.
- The opinion opposed to mysticism in philosophy is sometimes spoken of as rationalism. Rationalism insists that all our beliefs ought ultimately to find for themselves articulate grounds. Such grounds, for rationalism, must consist of four things: (1) definitely statable abstract principles; (2)...1902, William James, “Lecture 3”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC
- Elaboration of theories by use of reason alone without appeal to experience, such as in mathematical systems.
rationalism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
rationalism in Hindi
- philosophical theory
- तर्कबुद्धिवाद tarkabuddhivād, बुद्धिवाद buddhivād, तर्कवाद tarkavād
rationalism in Tamil
- philosophical theory
- பகுத்தறிவியம் pakuttaṟiviyam
rationalism in Bengali
- যুক্তিবাদ
rationalism in Malayalam
- philosophical theory
- യുക്തിവാദം yuktivādaṁ
More languagesFewer languages
- rationalism in Kannada
- ವಿಚಾರವಾದ
- rationalism in Arabic
- عَقْلَانِيَّة ʕaqlāniyya, عَقْلِيَّة ʕaqliyya
- rationalism in Indonesian
- rasionalisme
- rationalism in Thai
- เหตุผลนิยม
Examples of rationalism in a sentence
- A cold, hard rationalism based on group survival rather than personal benefit, or survivalist-style doomsteading.
- His sense of humour, together with his rationalism and ideology, helped me enormously on my road to recovery.
- It is the Terrestrialism of the African (Yoruba) world-view that established its identity and distinguishes it from western rationalism.
Synonyms of rationalism
Antonyms
Forms of rationalism
| plural | rationalisms |
|---|
Origin of rationalism
From rational + -ism.
Words formed from rationalism
- agnostic rationalism
- antirationalism
- critical rationalism
- economic rationalism
- pseudorationalism
Questions about rationalism
- What does rationalism mean?
- Rationalism means the theory that reason is a source of knowledge independent of and superior to sense perception.
- What is rationalism in Hindi?
- Rationalism in Hindi is तर्कबुद्धिवाद (tarkabuddhivād), बुद्धिवाद (buddhivād), तर्कवाद (tarkavād). See Rationalism meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rationalism?
- Rationalism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce rationalism?
- Rationalism is pronounced /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəlɪzəm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of rationalism?
- The plural of rationalism is rationalisms.
Words near rationalism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rationalism (page history and authors); rationalism (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rationalism (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-rationalism.ogg.
Cite this entry: “rationalism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rationalism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.