Rationality

Acknowledgements vi

A Sociologist's Introduction vii

1 The Idea of a Social Science 1

2 Concepts and Society 18

3 Explaining Cargo Cults 50

4 Is Understanding Religion Compatible with Believing? 62

5 Understanding a Primitivb Socibty 78

6 The Idea of a Social Science 112

7 African Traditional Thought and Western Sciencb 131

8 The Problem of the Rationality of Magic 172

9 Some Problems About Rationality 194

10 The Limits of Irrationality 214

11 Reason and Ritual 221

12 On Understanding Ritual 240

Bibliography 269

Index of Names 273