Introduction

The separation of fact and value, description and evaluation, science and criticism are the building blocks of our conventional notion of rationality. Concentrated study of how to do things has allowed the human race to dominate its environment in an unprecedented manner. It has also created an unprecedented potential for the destruction of that environment and for the domination of the people who live within it Such a situation can scarcely be equated with the apex of rationality. Purposive rationality also claims to be objective. One consequence is that concepts have become synonymous with operations, while ideas that cannot be reduced to means of technical manipulation have been rendered increasingly incomprehensible.