Concern And Control In Human Agency

Human agency is typically theorized as a unique form of control or countercontrol in a determinant world. Thus, the nature of world (as a closed, determinant space) is taken for granted, creating a notoriously difficult theoretical problem: formulating a persuasive account of how agency as countercontrol might coherently fit within the world conceived and prioritized in this way. Based on hermeneutic thought, I contend that a primary focus on agency as an immanently meaningful phenomenon obviates this problem and offers possibilities for more effective theorizing. From this hermeneutic perspective, agency is conceptualized as concernful involvement in practices; and a concomitant view of world is conceptualized as an immanently meaningful space of participation. I conclude by revisiting the notion of control and offering a brief account of how it fits within this hermeneutic account of agency.