Editing Rationalism (section)

===Political usage===
In [[politics]], rationalism, since the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], historically emphasized a "politics of reason" centered upon [[rationality]], [[deontology]], [[utilitarianism]], [[secularism]], and [[irreligion]]<ref>Oakeshott, Michael, "[http://faculty.isi.org/catalog/resource/view/id/678 Rationalism in Politics]", ''The Cambridge Journal'' 1947, vol. 1 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913150754/https://faculty.isi.org/catalog/resource/view/id/678 |date=2018-09-13 }}. Retrieved 2013-01-13.</ref>{{snd}}the latter aspect's [[antitheism]] was later softened by the adoption of pluralistic reasoning methods practicable regardless of religious or irreligious ideology.<ref>[http://usj.sagepub.com/content/43/5-6/863.abstract Boyd, Richard, "The Value of Civility?", ''Urban Studies Journal'', May 2006, vol. 43 (no. 5–6), pp. 863–878] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401135541/http://usj.sagepub.com/content/43/5-6/863.abstract |date=2012-04-01 }}. Retrieved 2013-01-13.</ref><ref>[https://www.factcheck.org/spindetectors/about/ ''FactCheck.org Mission Statement'', January 2020] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102201015/https://www.factcheck.org/spindetectors/about/ |date=2019-11-02 }}. Retrieved 2020-01-01.</ref> In this regard, the philosopher [[John Cottingham]]<ref>Cottingham, John. 1984. ''Rationalism''. Paladi/Granada.</ref> noted how rationalism, a [[methodology]], became socially conflated with [[atheism]], a [[worldview]]:
{{quote|In the past, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, the term 'rationalist' was often used to refer to free thinkers of an anti-clerical and anti-religious outlook, and for a time the word acquired a distinctly pejorative force (thus in 1670 Sanderson spoke disparagingly of 'a mere rationalist, that is to say in plain English an atheist of the late edition...'). The use of the label 'rationalist' to characterize a world outlook which has no place for the supernatural is becoming less popular today; terms like '[[secular humanist|humanist]]' or '[[materialism|materialist]]' seem largely to have taken its place. But the old usage still survives.}}