The rationalist impulse has guided western philosophical thought from its beginnings in ancient Greece to the present day. In this Companion, a cast of established and rising stars in philosophy lays out the historical roots, the celebrated expressions, the controversies, and the contemporary determinations of rationalist thought.

The volume opens with essays examining the nature of the rationalist impulse to philosophize, and the distinction between rationalism and empiricism. The focus of the remainder of the volume is on the "golden age" of rationalism in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. However, this is set in the context of its historical development and the appearance of rationalist themes in recent thought. The material is organized chronologically, and various philosophical methods and viewpoints are represented throughout.