Rationalism (9/29)

Today in class we finished going over our Literary Toolbox and moved on to a new topic about trends. The objective of the day was to apply a historical lens to identify literary and rhetorical trends and evaluate how changes in writing reflect changes in history, philosophy, and culture. A trend is something that catches on in society, but comes and goes, as it is constantly changing. We then talked about a lens, which affects how something is viewed and makes certain details vivid and others dull. Some examples are feminist lens (looking for feminism) and economic lens (looking for economics). Another example would be a historical lens, which is looking patterns/trends over time. We can connect it to literature because one of the first American literary trend was Rationalism. During the 1700s-1850s, rational thinking started to catch on. People were making decisions based on evidence and logic rather than emotional reasons based on religion. Before this era of rationalism, the pilgrims sought for religious freedom because they were persecuted in England, thus coming to America and starting a new life. Some sticked to the pilgrim's ways and did not support the trend of Rationalism as it goes against some religious beliefs like slavery. Americans believed the most efficient way of picking cotton was through slavery, in their eyes, they thought it was logical as it brought them success for free. Americans ignored their religious past and didn't feel that there was anything wrong with slavery. All they really cared about was money, and the best way at the time was using slaves. This trend did however, spark the importance of education. America needed bright minds that could bring forth smart decision makers for the betterment of the nation. Instead of people relying on religious truth for help, they used numbers and statistics to justify their decision making.

This relates to our world today because we have still have people who stand by religious truth. On the other hand, we also have rational people that believe in science because of the facts and hard evidence. Trends are important today as they can change a whole country a whole. Since trends are always changing, people are too. We are definitely not the same kind of people as we were back then. All in all, we make trends so that we can be different from the normal individual so that we are unique in our own way.

Advantages of Rationalism:

• Objective and scientific views of the universe
• Logic and reason help to establish infrastructure
• Remember: this is a new nation
• Numbers/statistics justify decision making
• The idea that there is a singular BEST choice
• Education is important

Disadvantages:

• Infrastructure, founded in injustice, slavery, civil rights denied based on “science”
• Best choice, unforeseen circumstances
• Education, important for the rich, white, and men (own land). This perpetuates status