rationalism

Rationalism is a way of thinking about things that relies on reason and logic. It means that instead of relying on instinct or intuition, we try to understand things by using our reason, or in other words, by thinking hard about them. Rationalists believe that it is possible to use logic and facts to figure out the truth or solve a problem. So you might use rationalism when you're trying to figure out a tricky math problem, or decide how to handle a difficult situation. In either case, rationalism means thinking things through very carefully and coming to a conclusion based on facts and logical reasoning.