Definition of "rationalism" [ra•tion•al•ism]

• Reliance on reason as the best guide for belief and action. (noun)
• Philosophy The theory that the exercise of reason, rather than experience, authority, or spiritual revelation, provides the primary basis for knowledge. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Enlightenment rationalism is also the logical basis of democracy, and Classic Liberalism (aka “conservativism”)."
• "In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286)."
• "Scientistic rationalism is however equally non-scientific where it mistakes a highly relevant alethic model for an epistemic certainty."