ABSTRACT
In the introduction to this book, the idea of rational action was introduced in three variants. In its broadest (worldview) form it presupposes that human beings act by individually linking decisions with outcomes. Humans are goal-oriented; they have options for action available and they select options that they consider appropriate to reach their goals. The rational action worldview is atomistic, assuming that all social actions can be reduced to individual choices and that rationality is preeminently a property of human individuals. It is also mechanistic, assuming that the world can be understood on the basis of the interaction of separate material bodies, including human beings.
