ABSTRACT
Liberal political theory is all too familiar with the divide between classical and welfare-state liberals. Classical liberals insist on the importance of small government, negative liberty, and private property. Welfare-state liberals, on the other hand, although they too stress civil rights, tend to be sympathetic to positive liberty. The widely shared perception that some version of the welfare state must be rational, while the Liberal Rechtstaat is clearly irrational, stems from the dominant conception of reason in action, which is called goal rationality. Rule rationality is not simply behavior in conformity to rules; it is action performed because rules are accepted. In their war against reductionist claims, advocates of rule rationality almost always choose the same battleground. Despite the powerful case for rule rationality, there is considerable reluctance on the part of many philosophers to multiply types of rationality. Of course pursuing goals and values is central to life.
