Rationalists: Descartes and Spinoza. Essay 6

          At its most basic definition, rationalism is all about reason. Rationalists regard reason as the main source of knowlege. To some degree they are correct, even if one does not agree with rationalism, it is thanks to reason that we have knowledge about anything. Both Descartes and Spinoza were considered rationalists but for different reasons. Descartes, for example, believed that the only thing we can be sure of is that we think. his entire philosophy was completely based on reason and nothing else. Spinoza on the other hand was quite different to Descartes. He was considered a rationalist because of the way he answered questions on ethics. He had a very mechanincal way of answering questions. They were both rationalists but their philosophies were very different and like many philosophers in ancient Greece, they called on each other on their dissagreements.
          Descartes believed in doubting everything and that the only thing that we can be sure of is that we think. We think, therefore we exist. He does not believe in the senses at all and this results in a philosophy built mostly on reason. Unlike many past philosophers, Descartes and other philosophers of his time built their views from scratch instead of building them off of someone else's. He is also the first one to separate mind and body claiming that one is completely opposite to the other. He also separated the world into two substances which reinforced his idea of dualism.

Descartes

          Spinoza was another rationalist though his opinions were completely different to that of Descartes. He regected the idea of dualism saying that the two different substances were within the same universe. He believes that both mind and body are not separate but simply a single entity. In his book Ethics he answers many ethical questions in a very geometrical manner. Spinoza also regarded good and evil as relative concepts and not opposote entities.

Spinoza

          Many would think that to belong to the same philosophical movement one would have to have similar opinions. Yet Spinoza and Descartes were both rationalists with polar opinions. If one thinks about it they are bith rationalists in their special way. We can see that Descartes focuses soley on his reason and nothing more. He did not believe in his senses and the only thing he was truly sure of is that he could think. If we think, we exist. Spinoza on the other hand used reason to explain everything. For every question posed in his book there is a mechanical and well thought of response. He trusted his senses because without them he couldn't reason.
         Rationalism has influenced our culture for a long time. Thanks to it there is a great separation of mind and body in today's day and age. Both Descartes and Spinoza used reason in different ways and regarded it in different ways to solve the questions of the univesre. They also built their philosophy from scratch. The only thing these two had in common is their use of reason to back up their philosophies.