rationale是什么？我的assignment要写这个。还有，我要的不是翻译，是具体的内容。

rationale是什么？我的assignment要写这个。还有，我要的不是翻译，是具体的内容。

rationale指的是达到一个决定、结论所做的推理过程，包括作为出发点的假设及所用的证据和逻辑步骤。
例如：
The Rationale of Privatization
It should be clear now why the institution of public property is dysfunctional. Institutions and the norms underlying them are supposed to help avoid conflict. But the institution of "public" property — of "public" streets — creates and increases conflict. For the purpose of conflict avoidance (of peaceful human cooperation), then, public property must go. All public property must become private property.
这是别人论文中的一小段。这段之前之后他还讲了为什么公共财产会引起矛盾，为什么私有财产就不会引起矛盾。把这些证据和论点结合起来，就是rationale。

例二
The rationale for the Iraq war
The primary rationalization for the Iraq War was articulated by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress known as the Iraq Resolution. The U.S. stated that the intent was to remove "a regime that developed and used weapons of mass destruction, that harbored and supported terrorists, committed outrageous human rights abuses, and defied the just demands of the United Nations and the world". Additional reasons have been suggested: "to change the Middle East so as to deny support for militant Islam by pressuring or transforming the nations and transnational systems that support it." For the invasion of Iraq the rationale was "the United States relied on the authority of UN Security Council Resolutions 678 and 687 to use all necessary means to compel Iraq to comply with its international obligations".
以上抄自英文维基。这个rationale，先给了道德依据，然后给了政治动机，最后给了法理依据。