Essays

Rationalism isn’t just a topic for dusty philosophy books — it still shapes the way we bank, vote, manage, and even burn out at work. This article explores the difference between rationalism and Cartesianism, showing how Descartes’ dream of pure, disembodied reason lives on in technocracy, metrics-obsessed workplaces, and “evidence-based” politics that often forget real bodies and lives. Drawing on classic philosophers, feminist and postcolonial critiques, and recent case studies from public health, economics, and management, it argues for a new, non-Cartesian rationalism: one that keeps reason at the center, but stays rooted in experience, justice, culture, and the messy reality of being human.