Narrowing Spaces of Reasons

Abstract This article explores the dynamics of polarization by examining the relationship between political imaginaries and the use of political rationality in polarized contexts. Scholars widely acknowledge that polarization hinders public reasoning. The article theorizes that one cause is the interplay between political rationality and the underlying political imaginaries that shape public reasoning. On the one hand, the political imaginary is understood as providing actors in society with a shared space of reasons in which to exercise public reason. On the other hand, political rationality is conceptualized as the discursive practice of legitimizing the political imaginary which enables the exercise of political reasoning. Polarization can be linked to the narrowing of these spaces of reasons, which makes the use of political rationality between different political imaginaries harder. This is exemplified by examining the political imaginary of authoritarian neoliberalism as constituting such a narrow space of reasons, contributing to further polarization.