This book is a wide-ranging examination of rationalist thought in philosophy from ancient times to the present day. Written by a superbly qualified cast of philosophersCritically analyses the concept of rationalismFocuses principally on the golden age of rationalism in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuriesAlso covers ancient rationalism, nineteenth-century rationalism, and rationalist themes in recent thoughtOrganised chronologicallyVarious philosophical methods and viewpoints are represented