Abstract

This chapter is an investigation of the links between the positive, normative and hermeneutic dimensions in the role imparted to norms as they are used or implemented in the processes of collective norm-based action. Whether the interpretations are rightful or not is an important rationality issue in its own right and it matters in the tradition of methodological individualism. However, the connection with practical rationality and the tradition of the « rational actor» in the social sciences is quite complex, when individual reasons are taken into account by models or theories which are used by steering authorities. The combination of positive explanations (or predictions), normative guidance and margins of interpretation is at the heart of the credibility of regulation in society, and this gives weight to the choice of hypotheses about individual cognition and attitudes. The same combination must be considered with attention in the development of responsibility-oriented devices in social functionings. Methodological individualism, it is argued, raises crucial issues in this respect.