List of rationalists

In philosophy and in its current sense, rationalism is a line of thought that appeals to reason or the intellect as a primary or fundamental source of knowledge or justification". It is typically contrasted with empiricism, which appeals to sensory experience as a primary or fundamental source of knowledge or justification. Rationalism should not be confused with rationality, nor with rationalization.

The following is a list of rationalists, that is, people who theorize about rationalism as a line of thought within the area of Philosophy.

Rationalists born BCE

 * Pythagoras
 * Parmenides
 * Plato
 * Socrates

Rationalists born in the 1st to 4th centuries

 * Augustine of Hippo
 * Origen of Alexandria
 * Plotinus

Rationalists born in the Middle Ages

 * Al-Farabi
 * Al-Ma'arri
 * Avicenna
 * Averroes
 * Maimonides

Rationalists born in the 16th to 19th centuries

 * René Descartes
 * Nicolas Malebranche
 * Baruch Spinoza
 * Gottfried Leibniz
 * Christian Wolff

Rationalists born in the 20th century

 * David Chalmers
 * Noam Chomsky
 * Alvin Plantinga
 * Ernest Sosa