[movimenti.bicocca] Autonomia and the Political: An Italian …

Autonomia and the Political: An Italian Cycle of Contention, 1972-1979
Author: Philip Edwards
DOI: 10.1080/13532940600937046
Published in: journal Modern Italy, Volume 11, Issue 3 November
2006 , pages 267 - 283


European Journal of Social Theory, Vol. 10, No. 3, 409-423 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1368431007080703
© 2007 SAGE Publications
The Plurality of Cognitive Formats and Engagements
Moving between the Familiar and the Public
Laurent Thévenot

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France, Institut
National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, Paris, France,
Laurent.Thevenot@???

Cognitive forms vary considerably as a human being detaches herself
from what is closest and most personal and moves to communicate — in
the broad sense of taking part in a common matter — across increasing
relational distances. The article proposes to deal with the variety
of cognitive formats which cannot `commonize' cognition to an equal
degree, relating them to a set of regimes of engagement with the
world that are identified in terms of the dependency between the
human agent and her environment. The good that engagement aims to
guarantee orients how reality is grasped and specifies the format of
what constitutes relevant information. This analysis offers new
insight into the composition of communities as well as persons who
have to cope with the plurality of cognitive formats and engagements
from the very familiar to the most public.

Key Words: action • cognition • convention • coordination •
engagement • information