Rationalism

Reason is the capacity to consciously apply logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking truth. It is associated with activities considered characteristic of humans, including philosophy, religion, science, language, and mathematics, and is generally considered a distinguishing ability possessed by humans. The term "reason" is sometimes used to refer to rationality, although the latter is more about its application.

In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to other possible sources of knowledge such as faith, tradition, or sensory experience. More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive".

thumb|Adriaen van Ostade, "Analysis" (1666)

'''Mu'tazilism''' (, singular ) is an Islamic theological school that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in Basra and Baghdad. Its adherents, the Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Ali and his opponents such as Mu'awiya after the death of the third caliph, Uthman. By the 10th century the term al-muʿtazilah had come to refer to a distinctive Islamic school of speculative theology (kalām). This school of theology was founded by Wasil ibn Ata.

In philosophy of science and in epistemology, instrumentalism is a methodological view that ideas are useful instruments, and that the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is in explaining and predicting natural phenomena. According to instrumentalists, a successful scientific theory reveals nothing known either true or false about nature's unobservable objects, properties or processes.*Anjan Chakravartty, , §4 "Antirealism: Foils for scientific realism: §4.1: "Empiricism", in Edward N. Zalta, ed, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2013 edn: "Traditionally, instrumentalis

form of nationalism espousing freedom, tolerance, equality and individual rights

Laicism (also laicity, from the Ancient Greek "λαϊκός" "laïkós", meaning "layperson" or "non-cleric") refers to a legal and political model based on the strict separation of religion and state. The French term laïcité was coined in 1871 by French educator and future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ferdinand Buisson, who advocated for secular education. In some countries, laicism is constitutionally enshrined, while others—primarily Western states—do not explicitly define themselves as Laicist but implement varying degrees of separation between religion and government.

Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences. For him, philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge.

Intellectualism is the mental perspective that emphasizes the use, development, and exercise of the intellect, and is identified with the life of the mind of the intellectual. In the field of philosophy, the term intellectualism indicates one of two ways of critically thinking about the character of the world: (i) rationalism, which is knowledge derived solely from reason; and (ii) empiricism, which is knowledge derived solely from sense experience. Each intellectual approach attempts to eliminate fallacies that ignore, mistake, or distort evidence about "what ought to be" instead of "what is"

epistemological philosophy advanced by Karl Popper

In the philosophy of mind, innatism is the view that the mind is born with already-formed ideas, knowledge, and beliefs. The opposing doctrine, that the mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) at birth and all knowledge is gained from experience and the senses, is called empiricism.

fan fiction story based on Harry Potter

ethical theory

LessWrong (also written Less Wrong) is a community blog and forum focused on discussion of cognitive biases, philosophy, psychology, economics, rationality, and artificial intelligence, among other topics. It is associated with the rationalist community.

American writer and academic (1853–1925)

moral intellectualism is a view in meta-ethics according to which genuine moral knowledge must take the form of arriving at discursive moral judgements about what one should do

one of the major philosophical schools of Neo-Confucianism

Informal social event for sceptics since 1999

meta-ethical view

irreligious organization in the United Kingdom

Mathematicism is 'the effort to employ the formal structure and rigorous method of mathematics as a model for the conduct of philosophy', or the epistemological view that reality is fundamentally mathematical. The term has been applied to a number of philosophers, including Pythagoras and René Descartes although the term was not used by themselves.

divorce of Christianity from Greek philosophy

two-dimensional coordinate system which can be used to distinguish political ideologies

former long-form blog by Scott Alexander

political perspective on the international system