Discuss rationalism and irrationalism as they apply to explanations of human behavior.
The importance of systematic, intelligent and logical thought processes are usually emphasized by the rationalistic explanations of human behavior. Due to this, the philosophers in rationalistic tradition, like Leibniz and Descartes, have made great contributions to mathematics.
The universal principles governing empirical world’s events are searched by rationalists. According to Socrates, the actions of a person are in accordance to the truth, if he knows it. Thus, it can be said that wise humans are considered good humans.
Among the Greeks, the greatest passion was the passion to know. There can be other passions. However, these should be controlled rationally. The glorification of the intellect has been perpetuated to a larger extent at the expense of emotional experience by psychology and western philosophy.
However, intellect has not always agreed to be the best guide for behavior and thoughts of humans. Many times, the appreciation of emotions has occurred more than the reason among humans. This case was observed under the influence of existential psychology and philosophy as well as during the Renaissance and early Christian era. In these viewpoints, human feelings are stressed over dry human reasoning, and thus, they are called irrational.
When human behavior is explained by stressing on unconscious determinants, it is also referred to as irrational. For example, irrationalism is exemplified by Jung and Freud’s theories, since in these theories unconscious causes that cannot be rationally experienced are claimed to be the true reasons of human behavior.