... an attempt to clarify the confusion that was brewing over the question of Christianity, and this was attempted via pure thought. The elimination of anything irrational and the use of knowledge as a source instead of sensationalism was paramount to the philosophising. Spinoza's predecessor, just like Spinoza himself was not trying to undermine the Church, but simply make it believable. Descartes made the famous assertion: I think, therefore I am, by this he meant that he could certainly say his mind existed, but as for the existence of his body he could not say for sure. His basis for this was that his mind was there because he was thinking, whereas his senses told him that he felt pain or smelt flowers yet he could never prove they actually existed. The reason that Peter Gay characterises the Enlightenment as a revolt against rationalism is perhaps two fold: some intellectuals from the ...

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