Engagements, grammars, and the public: From the liberal grammar to individual interests

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of individual interests within the pragmatic sociology of engagements, developed by Laurent Thévenot. He developed the idea of multiple regimes of engaging with the world – cognitive models of information-processing and what kind of good is engaged in different situations. In this article I argue that the way the sociology of engagements is currently formulated does not sufficiently allow for analysing public participation and disputes in situations where individual interests play a crucial role in public debates. The article presents a slight reformulation of what Thévenot calls the grammar of individuals in a liberal public, based on (a) an understanding of how individual interests relate to the common good and general will, (b) the constitution of legitimate actors within polities, and (c) the separation between the levels of generality and publicity. This reformulation might be called the grammar of individual interests, clarifying and simplifying earlier terminology.