Rationalism is a tool, and it doesn't tell the society where it should go, but allows the society to discover its ideals, then helps and accompanies the society on that road. Ideologies start from an axiom, and struggle to bring the society there, more or less forcefully. It's not a "society without highminded goals", but about freedom to discover them and and of how to reach them. Like, instead of telling a young girl she should become a nurse, you make sure she's well educated and has an array of choices, and allow her to discover herself her own way. Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! (Martin Luther King)
