Music has been thriving to be the site of an endless competition between two aspects of human beings; a rational (mechanical) aspect and an aspect that cannot be determined by rationality (sensible). In Max Weber's The Sociology of Music: The Rational and Social Foundations of Music, he contrasts rationalizations of many kinds of ethnic, ancient, and modern music to western classical music, concerning what had brought modern western classical music to fruition. Weber concludes that the piano is a successful form of a rationalization of keyboards in western classical music.
This study is concerned with the rationalizations of instruments and temperaments through two contrasting aspects; a rational aspect would be a mechanical aspect, while an aspect which cannot be determined by rationality would be a "human sense." Most musical instruments that are used in western classical music have experienced structural rationalizations such as that of the piano. In terms of the construction of the instruments, the flute in particular has been employing the equal temperament and has changed a scientific instrument that is prior to a mechanical aspect just like the piano. On the other hand, in terms of performance, the flute has kept its pure intonation that is based on the "human sense," contrasting to the piano whose tones have deteriorated because of rationalization. Consequently, this paper would find that musical rationalizations are processes of changing rationality to an aspect of "human sense" and a mechanical aspect of things. The more modern a musical rationalization is, the less rational its "human sense" becomes.

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