The Enlightenment Side Of Rationalism Based On The Concept Of Reason As Common Sense
The Enlightenment Side Of Rationalism Based On The Concept Of Reason As Common Sense

Summary/Abstract: Rationalism of the 17th century has its seamy side in the philosophy of Enlightenment, whose relationship to the essential social questions is completely different. It is no longer gnoseological, or ontological, but it is mainly based on the ethic and aesthetic hypotheses, where reason was considered something that is to become. The enlighteners viewed the existing reason as insufficiently rational or completely irrational. In this way, the problems of rationalism were transferred from theory to practice, i.e. to the educational system and its reforms. This enthusiasm was caused by the belief that the culture of intellect can eliminate ignorance, as well as all social deficits that are a result of it. There is a difference that can be seen in considering the intellect, which cannot be accounted for by the “common sense” as general and a sense as such. Hegel later proved this with his conception of the speculative (dialectically established) intellect. Thus, the deficiency of knowledge was regarded more like a misunderstanding, while the shift towards the willing motivation for studying and investigating things was regarded the norm of approach.

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