Talking politics, doing theory

This response reflects on two major themes running through the questions and suggestions offered by the five respondents in this forum: it seeks to clarify what might be at stake in ordinary language philosophers' frequent reference to 'the ordinary', and what bearing these concerns have on differing styles of critical theory. Along the way, it suggests that the writings of Clive Barnett offer a standing challenge to geographers to reconsider how and why they write, read, and otherwise 'do' theory.