- What is rational knowledge?
- Characteristics of rational knowledge
- Examples of rational knowledge
- Rational knowledge and empirical knowledge
- Other types of knowledge
We explain what rational knowledge is, the types of knowledge it encompasses. Also, its characteristics and examples.
What is rational knowledge?
Rational knowledge is all that we can obtain through the use of human reason, that is, through the mental understanding of the phenomena of the reality that capture our senses, and their analysis according to methods recognizable, demonstrable, understandable.
This means that rational knowledge is extremely broad, since it encompasses both the scientific knowledge like the empirical and the philosophical, although these three are different from each other.
There are different positions regarding the fact that everything knowledge, being necessarily human, it goes through our mind and therefore ultimately is something rational. However, rational knowledge is considered as the fruit of reasoning human as free of emotions as possible, prejudices, sensations, intuitions or subjective or unprovable values.
Thus, only that which can be explained and demonstrated according to a method specific, it would be rational. In this sense, rational knowledge is opposed to intuitive knowledge, which is not demonstrable, and religious knowledge, which is based on faith and is dogmatic, and lacks demonstrable explanations.
Characteristics of rational knowledge
The fundamental thing about rational knowledge is that it emerges from reason, that is, to acquire it, a conscious, methodical, often argumentative effort must be made, which obeys the formal laws of knowledge. logic.
This means that rational knowledge is an analytical form of thought, linked to a method. Therefore, it can be transmitted, demonstrated and replicated (in the case of experimental science).
In general, the traditional conception of reason excludes all forms of emotionality or subjectivity, aspiring to be as objective as possible. However, it is known that total objectivity is impossible and that even in the most apparently rational and scientific forms a minimal margin of subjectivities persists.
Examples of rational knowledge
A couple of examples of rational knowledge are:
- Scientific knowledge. In which the conditions in which an event occurs are replicated in a controlled environment. natural phenomenon, to be able to isolate it and understand how it operates, thus extracting conclusions trustworthy regarding their logic underlying. All this following the scientific method, which is a rational method of testing, demonstration and validation.
- Technical knowledge. What has to do with the use of tools and problem solving, goes through the conscious understanding of them in order to find the correct way of use. All of which must be learned rationally.
- Knowledge philosophical. Since it aspires to understand reality and existence human from pure reflections, that is, without the need for experimentsbut with formal demonstrations of deductive validity.
Rational knowledge and empirical knowledge
Empirical knowledge is derived from the experience of the world itself, that is, from the perceptions, so it can be considered a sensitive knowledge (of the senses). So, it can be more or less objective in its appreciation of the object of study, that is, it can lend itself to rational approaches, or not.
For example, a bad (empirical) love experience can be rationalized and turned into learning social (something that you try to do in psychotherapy, for example), or it can be translated into a conclusion emotional as “all men / women are equal”.
Other types of knowledge
Other forms of knowledge are the following:
- Scientific knowledge. That which is derived from the application of scientific method to the different hypothesis that arise from the observation reality, in order to demonstrate through experiments what are the laws that govern the universe.
- Empirical knowledge. One that is acquired through direct experience, repetition or participation, without requiring an approach to the abstract, but from the things themselves.
- Philosophical knowledge. That which is detached from human thought, in the abstract, using various logical methods or formal reasoning, which is not always directly detached from reality, but from the imaginary representation of reality.
- Intuitive insight. One that is acquired without formal reasoning, quickly and unconsciously, the result of processes often inexplicable.
- Religious knowledge. One who is linked to the mystical and religious experience, that is, to the knowledge that studies the link between the human being and the divine.