Rationalism

Rationalism is the philosophical view that truth can be derived from valid reasoning, without any experience to confirm it. Associated closely with rationalism is the concept of "innate" ideas and truths that, which is opposed to the concept of empiricism. Rational ideas are often expressed by religious philosophers to 'prove' the content of their faith.

Knowledge that is derived entirely from reason, without involving empirical evidence, is considered to be known a priori.