Neurorationalism

If spiritual experience can be understood at a neurological level, so too can rationality. Areas of the brain which are involved with language, logic and reasoning can be identified, as well as those areas which are used for memory, which is used in recognizing repeating behavior and therefore allows us to make predictions about future behavior.

The study of neurology can also identify the areas of brain activity common in empathy. Empathy is not normally associated with rationality but it does play an important part in both morality and rational behavior in social situations. Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in another person’s situation, imagine their feelings, feel their feelings and imagine their responses to situations. It is out of this ability that reciprocal behavior emerges.

Empathy allows people to make unconscious predictions about how others will react in social situations, by imaging themselves in the same situation. It is this use of empathy that makes it a tool of rationalism. If the expected behavior does not occur, the prediction will change based on experience, however empathy gives a tool for prediction where no experience currently exists. Without memory and empathy social interaction would be chaotic. Society would be incapable of functioning and would break down.