THE ENLIGHTENMENT SEAMY SIDE OF RATIONALISM ON THE BASIS OF THE CONCEPT OF REASON AS A COMMON SENSE

Abstract

Rationalism of the 17^th century has its seamy side in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, whose relationship to the ground social questions is completely different. It is no longer gnoseological, nor ontological, but it is mainly based on the ethic and aesthetic hypotheses, where the reason was considered as something that is to become. The enlighteners viewed the existing reason as insufficiently rational or completely irrational. In this way the problems of rationalism were transferred from theory to practice i.e. to the educational system and its reforms. That was the enthusiasm caused by belief that the culture of intellect can eliminate ignorance as well as all social deficits that are a result of it. There is a difference that can be seen in considering the intellect which cannot be accounted for the ‘common sense’ as a general and sense in common. Later Hegel proved that with his conception of the speculative (dialectically established) intellect. In terms of this, the deficiency of knowledge was regarded more like a misunderstanding, while turning in the way of the willing motivation for studying and investigating the things was regarded like the norm of approach.