The resonance of inquiry

Based on a critical sociology that aspires to give back a place to the ‘world’, Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance offers a diagnosis of advanced modern societies in which the ‘loss of the world’, and thus alienation under the impact of acceleration, is the experience characterizing our time. Derived from Charles Taylor’s theory of identity, the concept of resonance emphasizes the sensory dimensions of the relationship to the world. This concept therefore relegates to the background the process of reasoning at the heart of social communication, as well as the examination of the intersubjective processes of public dynamics. To correct this shortcoming, I argue that resonance can be rethought in terms of inquiry theory. Resonance then refers less to a ‘relationship to the world’ than to an engaged process of communication when a segment of the world becomes troubled and the affected subjects resort to the ‘reason of inquiry’ to regain agency in the world. Thinking about the ‘resonance of inquiry’ finally allows us to emphasize its processual nature and to make it a key element of engaged reasoning in the public space.