Rationality in Social Theory

FAIN: FT-11854-74

Thomas A. McCarthy
Boston University (Boston, MA 02215-1390)

To critically examine certain ideas of rationality which have wide currency in contemporary social inquiry. The almost exclusive predominance of instrumental and technological models of rationality must be overcome and the decisionistic gap between social theory and political practice must be bridged for a humanization of the social sciences and for the achievement of a self-understanding which might serve as a guide in the formulation of personal and cultural values.