First published in 1998, Loughlin examines the conception of rationality through the gazes of science, philosophy and political philosophy to further explain the concept of rational reasoning, the effects it has on the development on natural and social science and its implications on how we think about morals and politics.

1. Destructive Conceptions of Reality. 2 Knowledge and the Knowing Subject. 3. Common-sense Realism and Rational Action. 4. Alienation and the Social Scientist. 5. Repercussions of a Science-Dominated Conception of Reason. 6. A Closer Look at Scientific Method. 7. Ideology and Bias. 8. Today's Ideology.