Re: Weber and rationality

["Ricardo Duchesne" <rduchesn@xxxxxxxx>]

kelly, what you say about rationality is true though I would be careful
not to confuse Weber's concept of  formal rational action
with rationality per se.  W delineates four types of rationality:
formal, practical, theoretical, and substantive. Rational
capital accounting, refers to formal rationality as applied  to the
economic sphere. This formal (economic) rationality should *not*
be mistaken with the mere
pursuit of  gain or the calculation of one's self interest. Every human in
every culture is rational in this practical sense, and some cultures
did indeed develop formally rational institutions, as exemplified by
the Chinese bureaucratic state and its system of examinations. W
would insist however that, in the West, formal rationality came to
penetrate every sphere of live, including the economy as
symbolized by double-bookkeeping.


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