ABSTRACT
Contra an ontological imaginary that regards norms as “entities” endowed with stable meaning which exert causal power in linear ways, this chapter mobilizes Foucault’s Archeology to argue that meaning only takes shape relationally as part of material entanglements and that norms may not function as mass forces. It also explores the relevance of circulation of emotions and of professional epistemes in shaping “ideas” and ethical and political choices. It concludes by advocating justifications of agency based upon careful considerations of the conditions that obtain in practice and of the apparatuses we deploy to achieve certain sets of ends as an alternative to abstract universal norms.
