Criticism of modern rationalism in contemporary philosophy: a brief overview of the man/reality problem

Abstract

This paper shows that the question of the relationship between man and reality has been present in the evolution of western philosophy. It is argued that in the analysis of said relationship the point of view according to which it is possible for man to apprehend reality as an object was highlighted, a situation that reached its peak in what was exposed by modern philosophy. From contemporary philosophy, some arguments have been raised that question the supremacy of modern rationality in addressing the question of how man relates to reality. The purpose of this paper is to make a commented exposition of what has been said by some contemporary philosophers, mainly of those ascribed to the phenomenology and hermeneutics of German origin (Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Janke and Blumenberg), to reveal the limits of modern rationality and introduce alternatives for understanding the problem under discussion.