The Greek philosophers did they "invented" or "discovered" rationality? I open a textbook of philosophy for the first course in college, that of Alain Bellemare (Genesis beyond Western rationality. From Thales to Plato. Gaétan Morin, 1997), and I quote: "Rational thinking, rationality, (...) was invented by the Greeks in the sixth century BCE." (P. 32)
The thesis of the author wants life in democratic, political system invented by the Greeks and also introduced in the Greek cities, explains the invention of rationality. (The author writes well "invented" and not "discovered.")
This well-known thesis is taken from the French anthropologist and historian Jean-Pierre Vernant (1914-2007), a specialist in ancient Greece (see his classic The origins of Greek thought , PUF, 1962). She quickly became a dogma history of philosophy. No wonder then that a colleague's resume on his own, and is presented in a textbook. Yet it has serious flaws. I am just going to raise one of epistemological nature.
First, we must say it was fashionable, especially in France with the approach of May '68, to undermine belief in academic scholars showing that this venerable academic discipline is philosophy is explained, like any social phenomenon, for the humanities. Then we took consciousness that philosophy has an underbody historical, social and political. In sum, we thought back on land speculation puffy philosophers.
From the perspective of humanities, philosophy becomes an empirically observable phenomenon, as Mircea Eliade had done its part to religion.
But here's the problem epistemological arises. The humanities are passing presupposing a position epistemological knowledge, namely on historical knowledge. So that they can not claim complete neutrality in terms of philosophical justification they advance only "facts". In our case, that of the birth of rationality, it is an explanation of type empiricist. Alain Bellemare (containing roughly Vernant), for example, tells us that experience is what did the Greeks (not all, of course) of democracy who begat rationality. The same manual, I quote:
"... rationality is developed in Greece in the soil of democratic debate. And it seems normal [induction], having become accustomed to rational argument regarding issues of political life, the Greeks [not all] to incorporate this habit beyond the political sphere, in the study of nature, reflection on the meaning of human life. (P. 40)
The partisan empiricist history will conclude that rationality - the reason - was thus "invented" by the Greek thinkers. For reason follows from experience policy of the Greeks. In this empirical perspective, there is no question that the reason existed before the experiment. This would be a sacrilege. It is not question of admitting that the experience had "discovered" the reason to exist, so to speak before the experiment. Another curse of empiricist thought. The word "discovery" indicates that something in fact existed, was hidden or concealed, which was then "un-covered" or brought to light.
As we know, epistemology, rationalism is opposed to empiricism. Rationalism believes the reason is prior to experience. For a rationalist supporter of history, this is not experience that invented the reason, but reason itself is revealed to us. Rationalist philosophy of history of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) constitutes perhaps the most perfect model. In the rationalist perspective, the reason is not "invented" but "breakthrough" or, better, "revealed."
I conclude this too brief note on the strong desire that the followers of the humanities, whether historians, sociologists, anthropologists, etc.., Wonder about the epistemological to which they subscribe without too much achieve before declaring that they are the "facts" speak for themselves.
Sartre liked to say that we are condemned to freedom. We can also say that we are condemned to philosophy in the sense that whatever they say, whatever one thinks, one is no exception. You only realize it, and try to say.
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