Phil 340R Continental Rationalism
Mike Hansen
Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz—these are the rationalists from the 17th century. Four issues can help us group their philosophies together: the mind, physics and metaphysics, epistemology, and theology. I. Rationalists on the mind. Where do our mental items come from? The senses seem like a great place to start. They provide lots of material for our mental life, like colors, shapes, and maybe even concepts for objects and motions. But can the senses provide everything found in mental life? The rationalists claim that they can’t: some items found in the intellect are not first found in the senses. For example, our concepts of God, of mathematics, and of the self. These special concepts don’t come through the senses according to the rationalists, but we certainly have them in the intellect (the rationalists are theists, practicing mathematicians, and have strong theories of the self). II. Rationalists on metaphysics. The rationalists believe everything happens for a reason: This position is known as the principle of sufficient reason (PSR). It leads the rationalists to attempt comprehensive explanations (grasping the reasons) for everything. They introduce universal law into physics (things don’t just move without a sufficient reason to move), and they approach metaphysics with a revitalized theory of substances and essences (things don’t just have properties without a sufficient reason). III. Rationalists on epistemology. Because of these positions on the mind and on reality, the rationalists have rather optimistic epistemologies. Everything has a reason, and so everything can be known, at least in principle. Knowledge is grasping the reasons for the way things are, and there is always a reason to ty to grasp. IV. Rationalists on Theology. God is at the heart of all of this for the rationalists. They provide various arguments for God’s existence, and various explanations for how God figures into every aspect of their philosophy. In this course, I will focus on primary texts from Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz. I’ll pay special attention to rationalist theories of the mind, and to how they relate to current trends in the philosophy of mind.
