理性主义： 因果性思维 Rationalism: Causal Thinking

理性主义是指醉心于把推理当做可以作为知识来源，或者以推理来辩解事物。
不同程度上去应用理性方法和理论，会导致不同的理性主义的立场。从温和立场认为推理应该居先于其他获取知识的方法，到急进立场认为推理是唯一的获取知识之道的。
郝大维与安乐哲认为因果思维是理性主义的主要特征，而这种因果思维一直支配着古典西方。因果思维的前提有以下几点：
1。用混乱说来解释万物的起源，就是说万物的起源是虚无，分离或困惑。
2。把宇宙理解为单一秩序的世界。
3。断言静止比变化和运动居先；就是说，崇尚‘存在’而非‘变易’。
4。相信宇宙秩序是由某种中介者策动的结果。这些中介者可能是所谓的第一推动者，上帝的意志，之类。
5。明里暗地主张世界的千变万化，是被这些中介策动者所左右和决定。
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Rationalism is defined as is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification". Different degrees of emphasis on this method or theory lead to a range of rationalist standpoints, from the moderate position "that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge" to the radical position that reason is "the unique path to knowledge" .
Hall and Ames think that one of the main characteristics of rationalism lies in causal thinking which is the mode which comes to dominate the classical West. Its presuppositions are
(1) The construal of the beginning of things in terms of “chaos” as emptiness, separation, or confusion;
(2) The understanding of “cosmos” as a single-ordered world;
(3) The assertion of the priority of rest over change and motion (alternately expressed as the preference for “being” over “becoming”);
(4) The belief that the order of the cosmos is a consequence of some agency of construal such as the Unmoved Mover, the Will of God, and so on; and, finally,
(5) The tacit or explicit claim that the states of affairs comprising “the world” are grounded in, and ultimately determined by, these agencies of construal.