This article discusses the central role of subjective rationality in the social sciences, particularly sociology. Actions need not produce good outcomes to be subjectively rational, but need only be carried out for reasons seen as good by the actor. The article examines a class of reasons that are both good (that is, subjectively rational) and invalid, that is, not objectively rational. An imaginary dialogue between David Hume and Anthony Downs is used to illustrate the way in which the apparent irrationality of ideology can be incorporated into subjective rationality. The social use of magic and the case of false beliefs are examined as further examples in the same class. Finally, the way in which good mental procedures can lead to false beliefs is examined.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Balacheff, N.1987. Processus de preuve et situations de validation. Educational Studies in Mathematics19:147-176.
2.
Beattie, J.
1964. Other cultures. London: Cohen & West.
3.
Boudon, R.
1974. Education, opportunity and social inequality. New York: John Wiley.
4.
Boudon, R.
1981. The logic of social action. London: Routledge, German: Die Logik des gesellschaftlichen Handelns. Luchterhand.
5.
Boudon, R.
1982. The logic of relative frustration. In The unintended consequences of social action. London: Macmillan, German: Die Widersprüche sozialen Handelns. Luchterhand.
6.
Boudon, R.
1986. L'idéologie. Paris: Fayard.
7.
Boy, D.
, and G. Michelat1986. Croyances aux parasciences: dimensions sociales et culturelles. Revue Française de Sociologie27(2):175-204.
8.
Downs, A.
1957. An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper.
9.
Durkheim, E.
1962. Suicide, a study in sociology. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
10.
Durkheim, E.
1979. Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
11.
Evans-Pritchard, E.
1968. Witchcraft, oracles and magic among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
12.
Feldman, J.
1963. Simulation of behavior in the binary choice experiment. In Computers and thought, edited by E. A. Feingenbaum and J. Feldman329-346.
13.
Feyerabend, P.
1975. Against method. London: NLB.
14.
Hirschman, A.
1980. The changing tolerance for income inequality in the course of economic development. In Essays in trespassing, 39-58. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15.
Horton, R.
1982. Tradition and Modernity Revisited. In Rationality and relativism, edited by M. Hollins and S. Lukes, 201-260. Oxford: Blackwell.
16.
Hume, D.
1963. Essays moral, political and literary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
17.
Katona, G.
1951. Psychological analysis of economic behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.
18.
Kuhn, T.
1970 The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
19.
Lakatos, I.
1970. Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes. In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave, 91-196. London: Cambridge University Press.
20.
Lévy-Bruhl, L.
1960. La mentalité primitive. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
21.
Marx, K.
1867. Das Kapital. Hamburg: O. Meissner.
22.
Marx, K.
, and Friedrich Engels. 1845-46. The German ideology. In Historish-Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Vol I, 5.
23.
McKenzie, R.
, and G. Tullock 1975. The new world of economics. Homewood: Irwin.
24.
Pareto, V.
1935. The mind and society. A treatise on general sociology, 2 vols. New York: Dover.
25.
Popper, K.
1967 La rationalité et le statut de principe de rationalité. In Les fondements philosophiques des systèmes économiques, edited by E. M. Claasen, 142-150. Paris: Payot.
26.
Renard, J.
1988. Les extraterrestres. Paris: Cerf.
27.
Shweder, R.1977. Likeness and likelihood in everyday thought: Magical thinking in judgments about personality. Current Anthropology18(4):637-658.
28.
Simon, H.
1982. Models of bounded rationality. Cambridge: MIT Press.
29.
Weber, M.
1922. Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Tübingen: Mohr.
30.
Weber, M.
1968. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre, 2 vols. Tübingen: Mohr.
31.
Wittgenstein, L.
1975. Bemerkungen über Frazer's The golden bough. In Sprachanalyse und Soziologie, edited by Rolf Wiggershaus, 37-58. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
