ABSTRACT
The concept of "axiological rationality" is possibly one of the most difficult of all the concepts Max Weber put on the market. Sometimes the expression is understood as describing situations where a social actor acts in conformity with the values he has internalized. The pedestrian interpretation hides possibly a strong thesis: that accepting and endorsing values is not rational; only being congruent with values could be qualified as rational. The famous Weberian thesis of the "polytheism of values" suggests that, to Weber, values are a matter of personal choice in modern societies. Accepting the idea that normative, moral, and generally axiological feelings and beliefs can be grounded on strong reasons does not lead evidently to the endorsement of the Kantian theory of morals. The functionalist theory provides also a convincing explanation of the collective feelings related to social inequalities.
