Descartes and Spinoza

                Rationalism is the ability to use reason and deep thought to come to a conclusion. Descartes and Spinoza go back to Parmenides with their thoughts of reason being more important than the senses. Descartes and Spinoza had their differences but they both shared the idea of rationalizing to come to their conclusions. This somewhat new idea of reasoning and starting from the ground up influenced philosophy. These two philosophers influenced philosophy in a major way with this new way of thinking.

             

   Descartes is considered the father of modern philosophy; he was also the first significant system-builder. This idea of system-building, started with Descartes doubting everything, he started from the ground and built from there. He was considered a rationalist because he didn’t just find answers, he dug deep, doubted everything, and then with his reason he came to his conclusions. He was also considered a rationalist for his new method for solving a philosophical problem/question. As stated before, Descartes doubted everything, however, there was one thing he was certain of: he came to the conclusion that because he thinks he therefore exists. Along these same lines, he came up with a way to “prove” God existed, by saying that because we can think of the idea perfect and because we can create an idea of God, only a perfect being or God could have placed that thought there.

                Spinoza was the first to apply a historic-critical interpretation of the Bible. He took apart the Bible and examined each part, he started from the bottom and went from there, and this is one of the reasons why he is considered a rationalist.  He also geometrically demonstrated ethics; he took apart ethics and started again. He is also considered a rationalist because of his way of breaking apart a certain topic and examining each piece part. He would then use reason and deep thought to come to conclusion.

                Both philosophers started from the ground and built from there. They both used deep thought and cogitate to come up with their conclusions. Both differed from the other in terms of what they chose to break down and analyze and later on conclude, but they both shared this title of rationalist. These two had a great impact on modern philosophy, for now most philosophers start from the bottom and grow with their ideas and conclusions, from the ground up. They both used Parmenides to start their method of philosophizing and then in modern philosophy we have this idea being used again.

                Rationalism is the ability to use reason and deep thought to come to a conclusion. Descartes and Spinoza go back to Parmenides with their thoughts of reason being more important than the senses. Descartes and Spinoza had their differences but they both shared the idea of rationalizing to come to their conclusions. This somewhat new idea of reasoning and starting from the ground up influenced philosophy. These two philosophers influenced philosophy in a major way with this new way of thinking. I never knew that rationalizing could have been so important to philosophy; I knew it was an important part but I didn’t know that it is such a key part in it. I didn’t know that Descartes is considered a father of modern philosophy nor that he was the first to system-build from the ground up, for now so many people start from the ground up that it became a cliché.