Talk:Rationalism

Rationalism *Here* vs *There*

Is there anything remotely resembling rationalism and/or humanism *here* in IB? --Sikulu 16 December 2005, 10:06 (GMT)

Could be. We don't generally create articles for or make much mention of facts that exist in both universes. Is there something particular you had in mind? Elemtilas 09:06, 16 December 2005 (PST)

Just a comparison, for the moment --Sikulu 19 December 2005, 14:01 (GMT)

A comparison of what? I think we might be comparing apples and oranges here! The rationalism and humanism you're thinking of (philosophical concepts) don't necessarily have anything specific to do with the religious movement of the same name. It's like Baptists and Baptists. Some are Christians, the others are Johanites. I'm sure that *there*'s humanism wouldn't be radically different than *here*'s variety. Any ideas on how they might be different? Elemtilas 11:21, 20 December 2005 (PST)

This sounds more like Christian Humanism. Is the diference because of the much greater influence of Catholicism? --Sikulu 23 December 2005, 10:16 (GMT)

I don't think Catholicism was the impetus for this movement called Rationalism as much as Deism and the early American philosophers, particularly Payne. If we take the Wikipedia article on Rationalism as a basis, you can see the two are at Loggerheads right away. This is clearly a spiritual, religious movement of the Deist persuasion.

It remains to be seen what humanism looks like *there*: is it the atheistic type described in the Wikipedia article, or does it come from one or more religious traditions? I would suspect that the Catholic Church, who were certainly big on human rights and dignity of Man in the XIX and XX centuries, would be at the forefront of a deicentric Christian Humanism. I wouldn't be surprised if the other ethical religions haven't got their own angle on theistic / religious humanism as well.

I've been reading Armstrong's "History of God" and note that early western humanism (early Renaisannce) was quite comfortably Catholic. I see no good reason why the dance between western philosophy and religion would be significantly different *there*. Sooner or later, someone's going to say "God is dead" for example and atheistic philosophy will be on its way. This doesn't mean that atheistic / nontheistic humanism is the standard in IB, but in some form or fashion it must be there somewhere. Elemtilas 05:45, 23 December 2005 (PST)