With the multi-dimensionality of “ought” as the starting point, this paper explores Vermeer’s Skopos theory from the perspective of practical rationality and concludes that the Skopos theory, with all its concern on the efficiency of translation as a means, has settled the problem of “ought” in its practical dimension but ignored the problem of “ought” in its value dimension, and is thus limited and conditional in rationality. With the loss of value concern, the tool rationality of the Skopos theory puts translation, an inter-subjective communicative action, into the danger of being alienated into a tool-end action. The overall practical rationality of translation calls for an integration of goodness of means, which concerns the success or failure of practice, and goodness of aim, which concerns the moral quality of practice.