Examples of Scientists Who Believed in Rationalism
Subject
Schweitzer on Rationalism
Rationalism is more than a movement of thought which realized itself at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. It is a necessary phenomenon in all normal spiritual life. All real progress in the world is in the last analysis produced by rationalism. The principle, which was then established, of basing our views of the universe on thought and thought alone is valid for all time.^^
Example/Illustration
Object
Science Virtue and its Impact on History
So proud men have thought, in all walks of life, since Giordano Bruno was burned alive for his cosmology on the Campo de' Fiori in 1600. They have gone about their work simply enough. The scientists among them did not set out to be moralists or revolutionaries. William Harvey and Huygens, Euler and Avogadro, Darwin and Willard Gibbs and Marie Curie, Planck and Pavlov, practised their crafts modestly and steadfastly…
Why they relate
Schweitzer explains why rationalism is essential to spiritual fulfillment, and Bronowski lays out examples throughout history of scientists following this idea.