| 释义 |
rationalism|ˈræʃənəlɪz(ə)m|
[f. rational a. + -ism. Cf. F. rationalisme.]
1. Med. The principles of the ‘rational’ school of physicians.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 283 A remark on medical empiricism and rationalism. 1803Edin. Rev. I. 257 Acquainted with the divisions of empiricism and rationalism.
2. a. Theol. The practice of explaining in a manner agreeable to reason whatever is apparently supernatural in the records of sacred history. Also b. The principle of regarding reason as the chief or only guide in matters of religion, or of employing ordinary reasoning to criticize and interpret religious doctrines.
1827C. H. Sack in Pusey Hist. Enq. (1828) p. xii, Common rationalism, which the theological faculty of Berlin has..for more than fifteen years imparted to theological study. 1846J. H. Newman Ess. Development v. §3. 311 Its spirit was rationalizing, and had the qualities which go with rationalism. 1884J. Parker Larger Ministry 28 Rationalism does not more distinctly recognise human reason than it is recognised by evangelical philosophy.
c. The view that reason is the only guide leading to the improvement and progress of the human race and that adherence to religious or other ‘non-rational’ beliefs is out-dated.
1876(title) Constructive rationalism. 1897Agnostic Ann. I. 18 In my progress from Rome to Rationalism many other considerations have influenced me. 1923J. S. Huxley Ess. Biologist 231 It is the task of Rationalism to see that religion, this fundamental and important activity of man, shall neither be allowed to continue in false or inadequate forms, nor be stifled or starved, but be made to help humanity in a vigorous growth that is based on truth and in constant contact with reality. 1968A. J. Ayer Humanist Outlook 3 A broader movement of Rationalism or Free Thought, which was not merely anti-clerical but hostile to any form of religious belief. 1973C. Campbell in Rationalism in 1970s 81 If the aim of rationalism is merely to attack and demolish the myths that we and others hold then there is more than enough work to keep us busy for a very long time. 1973C. Macy (title) Rationalism and humanism in the new Europe.
3. Metaph. A theory (opposed to empiricism or sensationalism) which regards reason, rather than sense, as the foundation of certainty in knowledge.
1831Edin. Rev. Sept. 247 The fundamental principles of Rationalism we take to be these:—That human reason, or the reasoning faculty, is the sole arbiter as to what is to be received as truth, and what is to be regarded as error, by the human mind; that facts recognized by sense or consciousness form the materials on which the reasoning faculty is to be exercised. 1857Fleming Vocab. Philos. 419 According to rationalism, reason furnishes certain elements, without which, experience is not possible. 1895tr. Falckenberg's Hist. Mod. Philos. 81 Under [Wolff] rationalism stiffens into a scholastic dogmatism, soon to run out into a popular eclecticism. 1967Encycl. Philos. VII. 69/1 The philosophical outlook..which stresses the power of a priori reason to grasp substantial truths about the world and correspondingly tends to regard natural science as a basically a priori exercise... The spirit of rationalism in this sense is particularly associated with..Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibnitz.
4. Used with reference to ‘rational’ dress.
1897Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 1/3 The triumphs of Rationalism..in the domain of dress.
5. The principle or practice of effecting assessment, planning, or organization in the economic or social sphere by rational (sense 7) methods.
1915M. Epstein tr. Sombart's Quintessence of Capitalism xii. 182 Absolute rationalism is the first [principle]. Economic activities are ruled by cold reason, by thought. Ibid. xxv. 325 Economic rationalism owes much of its growth to technical rationalism. 1930R. H. Tawney in T. Parsons tr. Weber's Protestant Ethic 1 (e) The word ‘rationalism’ is used by Weber..to describe an economic system based..on the deliberate and systematic adjustment of economic means to the attainment of the objective of pecuniary profit. 1935Encycl. Social Sci. XIII. 114/1 In social and historical life the power of rationalism derives from the confidence which individuals and societies place in reason. 1958G. Myrdal Value in Social Theory vii. 135 Basic to the eagerness in trying to drive valuations underground is the rationalism of our Western culture.
Add:6. Archit. The application of rationalist principles to architecture, characterized by the rejection of ornament and adoption of geometrical simplicity and functionalism.
1956N. Pevsner Englishness of Eng. Art ii. 31 When Europe decided to abandon the Rococo, English rationalism was a welcome discovery. 1964J. Summerson Classical Lang. Archit. v. 38/1 If the rationalism of Laugier pulled in one direction, the wildly irrational inventions of..Giambattista Piranesi..pulled in another. 1977Progressive Archit. May 82/1 The theory of rationalism is a reductionist one. It searches for essences—of building types, or urban spaces, even of the alienation produced by the city which both horrifies and fascinates. 1988Ibid. Mar. 122/1 The abstract compositional laws were given material form through the former's [sc. Perret's] faith in structural rationalism. |