Zidong Zhou

This paper argues that in our social and political life, certain propositions can function as hinges, in the sense developed by Wittgenstein view in On Certainty. These political hinges are background certainties that make political reasoning and public discourse possible. Unlike epistemic hinges that constitute rationality itself and hence must be in place before our political lives take shape, political hinges are socially and institutionally cultivated. Once they are cultivated, they define what counts as legitimate reasoning and participation within a political framework. I propose three interrelated mechanisms, institutionalization, social embedding, and gatekeeping, through which political hinges are formed and maintained. This account shows how certain propositions become the undoubted conditions of political life and explains why some deep disagreements in politics remain hidden rather than openly expressed. It extends hinge epistemology beyond its traditional focus on epistemic rationality and demonstrates how institutions sustain both the stability and the boundaries of public reason.