Abstract: Geoffrey Brennan and I defended a theory of social norms, built on people’s interest in esteem, that later worried him on the grounds that if self-interest is at the origin of norms, then norms can only engage us prudentially: interest in, interest out. I argue that our original account can be extended to allay this concern. A counterfactual genealogy, akin to Lewis’s genealogy of conventions, can explain why social norms can assume the status of social demands rather than…