This paper investigates the prominence of rationalism in the major Western pedagogical theories of Plato, Rousseau, and Dewey, all of whom conceptualize formal teaching, as the inculcation of rationality in individual learners. After each of their theories has been described, the argument turns against the tradition of pedagogical rationalism to question what happens in the education of artists, quasi-artists, and creative designers. The answer given is that imagination must be paramount and strongly encouraged in the education of such students, despite the problematic fact that imagination - seeing the truth - cannot be taught the way that rationality can, relying instead on the analysis of successful works of art and design as exemplary and allowing students to freely pursue their own individual inspirations.