5+ Rationalism Books for Free! [PDF]

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For you who want to know a little more about the philosophical current that seeks to explain the truth, we have created a collection of free books on rationalism in PDF format.

Rationalism promotes and sustains the self-sufficiency of reason to explain reality in a deductive way; it is a philosophical current that sponsors the primacy of reason to know the truth. 

This current began in the 17th century and the philosopher of French origin, René Descartes, is its main exponent; the movement, besides placing the problem of knowledge among the main themes, also emphasized the relationship between mind and body.

The most prominent representatives of this philosophical current lived in Germany, France, and other regions of Europe, and represented the opposition to the empiricism that emerged in England.

To learn the most relevant details of this current that marked a before and after in world history, you can consult the more than 20 materials between books and free articles on rationalism in PDF format that we share with you in this section.

Rationalism Books

Critique of Rationalism in the Epistemology of Modality

Heejin Kwon

Rationalism

R.A. Jahagirdar

Conviction, Priority, and Rationalism in Aristotle’s Epistemology

Marc Gasser-Wingat

Aristotle on Practical Rationality - Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women

Van Tu

The rise of Western rationalism - Paul Feyerabend’s story

John Preston

Rationality and Psychology in International Politics

Jonathan Mercer

Against rationalism

Michael Rosen

Rationalism

Thomas Kader

Three kinds of moral rationalism

Michael Smith

Aristotle's Rationalism - A Reply to Barnes

Yassaman Hoshyar

What Is Rational Psychology? Toward a Modern Mental Philosophy (Article)

Jon Doyle

Rationalism (Article)

Peter J. Markie

Rationalism - At the cross-roads of historical and systematic reflection (Article)

Danie F.M. Strauss

Plato’s theory of Love - Rationality as Passion (Article)

Lydia Amir

The Influence of the Rationalist Philosophy of Plato, Aristotle and the Roman Stoics on the Western Political Tradition (Article)

Dr W B Vosloo

Books of the Main Authors of Rationalism

Among the main authors of rationalism, we find René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz. Descartes is known for his famous phrase “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am), which summarizes his search for an indubitable truth through the method of doubt. 

Spinoza, for his part, developed ethics based on the idea that God and nature are the same, and Leibniz proposed the existence of a fundamental unity that explains the harmony of the universe.

If you are interested in deepening your knowledge of rationalist philosophy, we invite you to enjoy the free books and articles of the main authors of this current.

Meditations On First Philosophy

René Descartes

A Discourse On Method

René Descartes

The Ethics

Benedict de Spinoza

On the improvement of understanding

Benedict de Spinoza

The Monadology

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Human Understanding

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz

Epistemology Books

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge and how it is acquired, validated, and justified. The relationship between rationalism and epistemology is close, since both deal with the question of knowledge. 

Rationalism holds that actual knowledge is attained through reason, while epistemology seeks to understand the processes involved in the acquisition of knowledge and its validation.

If you are interested in delving deeper into the subject of epistemology and discovering the different philosophical currents that have dealt with it, we invite you to enjoy our complete section of free epistemology books.

Logic Books

Rationalism and logic are closely related since both are concerned with reason and reasoning. Rationalism holds that reason is the primary source of actual knowledge, and logic is concerned with the study of the processes and laws governing valid rationale.

Logic is a discipline concerned with the study of the processes and laws governing valid reasoning. In this sense, logic is a fundamental tool for rationalism, since it allows validation of the assertions made through reasoning.

If you are interested in deepening the relationship between rationalism and logic, we invite you to discover the free logic books and articles that we bring for you.

Logic and Commonsense Reasoning

Guillaume Aucher

Introduction to Philosophy - Logic

Bahram Assadian, Matthew Knachel and others

Logic In Philosophy

Johan van Benthem, Amsterdam & Stanford University

Introduction: Logic, Philosophy, and Philosophical Logic (Article)

Dale Jacquette

Metaphysical Books

Metaphysics deals with fundamental questions such as existence, reality, and the nature of things. Although rationalism and metaphysics seem divergent, they have a close relationship.

Rationalism provides a solid foundation for metaphysics by offering a systematic method for the investigation of reality. The reason is the primary tool used to explore what exists beyond what we can directly experience.

If you are interested in exploring more about metaphysics and delving into the most important philosophical debates about existence and reality, we invite you to explore our complete section of free metaphysics books.

Ethics Books

Rationalism and ethics are two areas of philosophy that are closely related. Rationalism, by emphasizing reason as the primary source of knowledge, provides a sound basis for ethics by allowing us to reason about what is right or wrong.

Rational philosophers argue that morality cannot be based on mere authority or tradition, but must be grounded in reason.

If you are interested in exploring more about ethics and delving into the most important philosophical debates about morality and human behavior, we invite you to explore our complete section of free ethics books.

Philosophy of science

Rationalism and the philosophy of science are closely related since both are concerned with the pursuit of knowledge and truth. 

Rationalism emphasizes reason as the primary source of knowledge, while the philosophy of science is concerned with fundamental questions about the nature of science and how scientific knowledge is produced.

By using reason as the primary tool, philosophers of science can develop coherent theories and critically evaluate them. We invite you to enjoy the following books and articles on the philosophy of science in PDF format.

Introduction - What is the Philosophy of Science

Christopher Hitchcock

Philosophy of Science

David Papineau

Philosophy of Science - An Overview for Educators

Peter Machamer

What is the relation between Philosophy and Science?

James Levine


Here ends our selection of free Rationalism books in PDF format. We hope you liked it and already have your next book!

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