The 5 most important types of rationality in the human being

Rationality is one of the qualities that define us as humans, but its definition can be posed in different ways.

Therefore, we can establish various typologies, depending on the criteria that we select to talk about this concept. This is the question that we are going to submit to analysis throughout the following paragraphs, which will allow us to know the different types of rationality.

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What do we understand by types of rationality?

In order to delve into the various types of rationality, we first need to make an introduction to this concept, since its complexity may be greater than it seems at first sight. Rationality refers to the ability of human beings to think and act according to their own logic or elements..

This quality is what allows us to understand the reality that surrounds us and use our mental processes to try to achieve our goals in a conscious way, through the most optimal decision making for each goal. This is a tremendously complex feature not found at this level in any other species.

Rationality is inherent to the human being, although there are individuals who have not yet developed it, as is the case with babies, others who will never be able to develop it (or at least not fully, depending on the case), such as some people with disabilities intellectual.

Others, on the other hand, had rational capacity in the past, but have lost it or have seen it limited, whether due to dementias due to old age, brain damage or other diseases or alterations. Excluding these cases, we could say that rationality is a characteristic of the human being.

Nevertheless, hints of some very primitive types of rationality have been observed in other animal species, such as different primates, dolphins and even animals much further away from us evolutionarily, such as octopuses, which do not even belong to the group of vertebrates.

Of course, although rationality is a human condition, it does not mean, far from it, that all our mental processes and our behaviors are based on a rational question. On the contrary, on many occasions, people fall into behaviors or thoughts without any logical foundation and therefore irrational.

Different types of rationality

After a first part in which we have been able to delve into the meaning of this concept, it is time for us to now review the types of rationality. There are several types that can be made. In this case, We are going to use the one raised by the famous German sociologist, Max Weber.

In his theories, Weber spoke of the concept of social action, as a basic form of interaction between people, and he affirmed that said element depended on the types of rationality that were being applied in each moment.

For this he distinguished four possibilities in his pure state, although he also considered that in most of the Sometimes, what could be appreciated when analyzing the process in question, would be a combination of two or more of those guys. In any case, we are now going to see these four types of rationality that Max Weber proposed.

1. instrumental rationality

The first form of rationality that Weber appreciates is instrumental. The key to this way of thinking and acting would reside in the expectations that the subject has about the way of acting of the rest of the people or of the entity with which he is interacting.. This anticipation will mark the behavior of the subject, guiding him in the appropriate way to achieve the goal that has been proposed.

This would be the most classic way of understanding rationality: we act as we do because we know (or we believe) that this is the most logical way to achieve the particular end that we have set ourselves at all times concrete. It is a way of acting that we constantly use, without noticing it.

This type is also known by the name of intentional rationality, since the subject has an intention to behave as he does, which is to achieve its goal, as we have already seen. The name of instrumental, likewise, would refer to the use of the means, which would be the specific conduct, to achieve the end.

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2. belief rationality

Continuing with the types of rationality, we would now find the one that is based on the person's beliefs. In this case, the focus would not be on the expectations that the person has of other people or elements, but would be within himself..

What kind of conditions can modulate rationality in this sense? Anything that comes intrinsically from the person, such as his own beliefs about an issue determined, his own ethics and moral values, religious considerations that can modify his vision of the world etc

In this sense, these questions do not imply a predictor of whether or not the person reaches the end sought, rather, the conduct or thought is exerted for its own reasons, of the kind that we have just discussed. enumerate. We observe, therefore, that belief-oriented rationality modulates the person's way of acting, but does not guarantee that it is the most successful behavior.

3. affective rationality

But those are not the only types of rationality that Weber describes. The third of them is affective rationality. Here comes into play the emotionality of the subject, another characteristic of the human being. Therefore, It will be the feelings and emotions that he is experiencing at a given moment, which will guide his thinking or his behavior..

In this case, we can observe that the very idea of ​​rationality is on the edge of its definition, since sometimes the emotion itself or the feelings experienced by the subject, could lead him to act in a practically irrational way, according to an observer external.

Max Weber himself was aware of this issue and took it into account when defining the types of rationality, specifically the one that concerns us at this moment. Even so, it is undeniable that feelings and emotions are powerful elements that can influence people's decision-making and in fact usually do so.

4. conventional rationality

Finally, Weber completes his list of types of rationality by referring to social conventions. The cultural elements of the society to which the subject in question belongs, they can be so integrated that they will also be a decisive factor when it comes to modifying our thoughts or behaviors.

A multitude of actions that a person performs would respond fundamentally to tradition. That is to say, he does what he does because he has learned that it is the way to act, it has always been done that way and apparently for this reason it is the correct way to act.

Obviously, this may or may not be true, although on many occasions there is no truth as to the correct way to act. In any case, rationality by tradition is another important way to modulate a person's behavior, even if it is not always the efficient way to achieve a certain goal.

5. Combinations of the above

Although we already anticipated that for Max Weber there were four types of rationality that could occur, we also We mentioned that these four modalities refer to “pure” situations that, in general, do not usually give yourself And it is that the usual thing is that there are several types that exert their influence at the same time.

It is difficult (although not impossible) to abstract from factors as human as the feelings that are being experienced., an intense emotion that is clouding us, the traditions so deeply rooted in our culture, be it whatever this may be, religious issues that inhibit or modulate a part of our thoughts and behaviors.

In short, it is difficult to put aside all these issues, or other intrinsic factors of the person that, in one way or another, are present when making decisions. Therefore, even if we try to use the first of the types of rationality, the instrumental or intentional, as we have already seen, it is possible for any of the other types (or even all three) to be present.

Therefore, even in the face of cold and considered decision-making, it may be that, even in a subtle way, the other types of rationality are exerting a certain influence on the behavior or thought adopted.

Bibliographic references:

• Demeulenaere, P. (2014). Are there many types of rationality? Papers. Sociology Magazine.
• Kalberg, S. (1980). Max Weber's types of rationality: Cornerstones for the analysis of rationalization processes in history. American journal of sociology.
• Salvat, P. (2014). Max Weber: power and rationality. Santiago: RIL editors.
• Swidler, A. (1973). The concept of rationality in the work of Max Weber. Sociological Inquiry. Wiley Online Library.