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As it turns out, the new Philosophy forum got named "Philosophy". I propose we not change that, and I'll explain why:

Philosophy encompasses more than just rational thought, it encompasses speculation and even divine inspiration. Theology is subsumed by philosophy, for example, and there is certainly no rational basis for believing in a higher being -- that is the province of faith as opposed to reason. Similarly, many tenets of Eastern philosophies are not subject to rational exploration.

My concern is that if we rename it "Philosophy & Rationalism" we send the message that the less rational philosophical concepts (the Tao, Zen aphorisms, even Kant's noumenal phenomenon) are not to be discussed in the forum at all. This is not the case -- those willing to discuss those non-rational concepts are indeed welcome, it's just they must accept the fact they may be called upon to defend their position; they may be questioned, rebutted, ignored (but NOT mocked or ridiculed).

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I know the current forum description reads "Philosophy and Rationalism", but I think too many people will read that as "Rational Philosophy" instead. Besides (to repeat myself) Rationalism as a philosophical school of thought is by definition a subset of philosophy. It's just one of many philosophical systems. To title the forum "Philosophy and Rationalism" is just as redundant as calling it "Philosophy and Pragmatism" or "Philosophy, Utilitarianism, Pragmatism, Noumenalism, Nihilism, Objectivism, Rationalism...."

In other words, why single out one single philosophical system for special mention while ignoring the several dozen other floating out there? The only conclusion a reader can draw from such prominent mention is that there is some restriction or at the very least some special preference given to Rationalism over all other schools of philosophical thought. Do you want that? I don't -- even though I lean pretty heavily towards Rationalism in my personal philosophy.

The more I think about this the more strongly I feel about it -- not only is the term "Rationalism" redundant, it is downright exclusionary. I really do think we'd be much better served by going just with "Philosophy".

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SkorpivoMusterion said:

Someone in P&R suggested "Philosophy and Psychology". Quite a nice alternative.

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It could be "Philosophy and Psychology", and "Spirituality and Schizophrenia". Then we'd have a P&P, and an S&S!