ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a ‘critical rationality theory of social order’ by reformulating the problem of social order to show how critical reason enables individuals to give themselves a system of moral values and make the rise of social institutions of law, governance and market possible. The emancipatory type of action is used to address metaphysical, moral, legal, political and economic mechanisms of social order formation and argues that the worldviews upon which individuals define their place in the universe lead them to the meaning of the good life, the basis for establishing institutions of human rights, governance and market in society. Chapter 8 uses the ordinary action type to show how the actor uses critical reason for becoming a member of society through voluntarily respect for common values and social institutions.
