Authoritarianism

•Authoritarianism is a doctrine
about the source of knowledge.
•It says that the intimate source of
knowledge is an authority of some
type- an institution like the church
or the state, a scripture like the
Quran, a moral or civil code or a
person.
• The supporters of this view claim that the
commoners lack the power or opportunity
to acquire some important types of
knowledge.
• There are men of extraordinary powers or
men favored by God, to whom alone such
knowledge occurs. The task of the rest is
simply to appreciate them and follow them.
• Authoritarianism is common particularly in
the religious and moral spheres.
• It had its glory days when the religious
authority was dominant, i.e. in the ancient
times and medieval period.
 Criticism of Authoritarianism

• The authoritarian attitude is hateful to the

critical spirit of science and philosophy.
• It is generally the attitude of common man.
But the path of truth is not bed of roses.
Science and philosophy are perfect
confidence, which can be attained not by
an easy appeal to some authority but by
careful, independent investigation.
• Historically, this doctrine has been both a
blessing and a curse.
• When little education and opportunity were
available to the ordinary people, religious
and social authorities fulfilled a great need.
• But they have also done immense harm to
man’s progress in the field of science and
philosophy, and blinded man to many moral
misconceptions which might otherwise
have been easily detected.
• Unquestioned faith in specific religious
authorities has been responsible for
crusades and blood-sheds, and subjected
many great devotees of truth and human
welfare to inhuman torture.
 Rationalism
• Rationalism is another doctrine about the
source of knowledge.
• It is that theory of knowledge according to
which our reason is the only source of
certain knowledge.
• It says that reason is simply our faculty of
correct thinking which works in collaboration
with or independently of senses. The
verdicts of pure reason are alone reliable.
• Proponents of this doctrine argue that
sense perception is relative to bodily and
other conditions, and can give only a
confused picture of things.
• Proponents of this doctrine are: The
Eleatics of ancient Greece, Plato ,
Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Wolff,
Leibniz and Bradely.
• Rationalism appears in different form, but
there are certain common elements of it:
• 1. Its basic tenet is that knowing is a process
of inference from some fundamental
propositions of a self-evident nature.
• 2. Its method is deductive like that of
Mathematics and has two stages: intuition
and education.
• By intuition we are aware of the original
propositions, and all other propositions are
deduced from them by a step-by-step
procedure.
 Comments
• Truth is generally regarded as logical or
rational. In this sense, rationalism has the
obvious merit of being in rigid harmony
with the very purpose of truth-seeking.
• Rationalists expose with delicate
arguments against the doubtful nature of
sense-experience.
• A priori principles, apart from experience,
can not by themselves present any
knowledge of facts( the present world). In
mathematics it is possible to explain
concepts through a priori principles. But in
science and philosophy, through a priori
principles, it is not possible to explain
issues that involve facts and concrete
realities.
• It is by sensation we distinguish between
food and poison. Here sensation works as
a practical guide.
• Finally, it can be said that extreme
rationalism, denying altogether the role of
experience, is never a widely-held view.
But in its moderate form ( which means a
synthesis between sense and reason), it
has been found in many exponents ( such
as Immanuel kant).