Robinson e la foresta. Sui limiti della teoria della scelta razionale

The article criticizes the model of perfect and maximizing individual rationalism advanced by the theory of rational choice and calls attention to the internal and external limits of human rationality and the relational character of rationality itself. The considerations of J. Elster, F. Hayek, N. Luhmann and H. Simon and the different implications, at the levels of politics, ideology and ethics, that emerge from the recognition of the limits of rationality are analyzed from this perspective. After an examination of the limits of a theory based on the undervaluation of limits, the theory's explicative capacity, above all in the historical sphere, is questioned; and the suggestion is made that it be considered rather as an «ideal-type» that can be used for normative purposes.