The Power Of Rationalism

The person who can dismantle false worldviews has a power that others do not: he or she has the ability to not only refute erroneous beliefs, but to also reduce a person who has false beliefs to a state of terror, insecurity, and emptiness.  This is a power that is rare and potent.  Ultimately, its potency is derived from the significance of worldviews.  It is impossible for a person to exist without having a worldview of some kind, and it is inevitable that a person's worldview dictates their justification for continuing in their existence.

If one removes that justification by exposing a worldview as being incorrect, the consequences can include a dramatic identity crisis, omnipresent fear, and a lack of will to live.  There is significant power that one holds over others simply by virtue of being able to destroy their worldviews, for in demolishing a worldview, one might also demolish the person who formerly held it.  The power of rationalism is the ability to trigger existential crises in others.  This is a power of great magnitude, since it can erode the very foundations of someone's willingness to exist.

In light of this, one always needs to follow up refutations with corrections if a situation allows for it.  Whenever possible, the goal must be to not only tear down fallacies, but to also replace errors with knowledge.  After all, a person who intentionally withholds answers is an enemy of truth, just like one who flees from it, for he or she does not consider truth worthy of being affirmed and defended when a willing soul desperately searches for it.  Many people like to call themselves allies of the truth, but few are willing to either pursue it or share it properly.  Even many who claim to love truth are more likely to leave someone in their questions by default than they are to genuinely guide them to knowledge.

However, neither refuting deceptions nor establishing truths will necessarily persuade someone to change their worldview.  Persuasion is not the same as proof; one can persuade without proving, and one can prove without persuading.  Despite this, there is nothing immoral about using this power as a tool of manipulation, in that a person who will not yield to reason has no right to be protected from intellectual decimation and whatever personal issues result from it.  If a person will not transition from irrationality into rationality because of intellectual means, leaving them in existential anguish is a legitimate option.  The terror can drive them to seek demonstrable truths that they would otherwise not accept.

Thus, rationalists wield a power that, though it is accessible to others, is overlooked by the majority.  There has never been a period in recorded history where actual rationalism has been the norm.  Indeed, the very fact that it is not the norm is the reason why its power can be so blatant in the first place.  This power must be exercised in a way that acknowledges its potential effects, both constructive and destructive.  Even so, it is not that the destructive effects are to be avoided at all costs, but that they need to be sowed selectively, only when someone refuses to submit to reason.