ABSTRACT
Rationalism is not a reaction to the authoritarian tradition, as is often supposed, but part of it. It is the view that only an appeal to an inter-subjective authority is allowable. The Christian faith, for instance, implies belief on the authority of the Bible or the Christian tradition and is thus a belief based on an authority of which the reliability is not equally evident to everybody. The alternative strategy is to draw a sharp distinction between ‘knowing’ and ‘religious belief.’ Knowing is taken to mean assenting to true propositions. The rationalist criteria are applicable, so that one cannot claim to know something unless this claim can be defended on rational grounds. Religious belief, however, is existential rather than intellectual. One example of attempts to make the Christian faith acceptable on the grounds of rationalist criteria for rationality is found in the view of belief that is held, according to some neo-thomist interpretations, by Thomas Aquinas.
