Reasoning and pseudo-rationalism

 We often assess, accept, or disagree when the truth or wisdom comes from another mind rather than our own. Rationalist philosophers believe that all knowledge can be understood through a process of reasoning, without any external sources. 

Generally, we agree with such statements or rationalization if these are assigned to a great personality or authority even when that person is not an expert or well read in that area. For example, a comment on science by a popular religious leader is more palatable to us than a not so popular professor or scientist in that specific field. These types of knowledge is often labelled as "rationalism". 

The philosopher Karl Popper distinguishes between true 'rationalism' and a false or a 'pseudo-rationalism' as follows:

1. True rationalism according to Socrates:  "It is the awareness of one’s limitations, the intellectual modesty of those who know how often they err, and how much they depend on others even for this knowledge". An example is the humility of a great scientist who claims that he/she understands little about the universe beyond his/her subject.

 

2. Pseudo-rationalism’ is the intellectual intuition-ism described by Plato. This is authoritarian intellectualism, a belief in the possession of an infallible instrument of discovery by the individual. For example, a person boasting that he/she was "religious for a long time and had read all the scriptures but found nothing in those books".