Category : Concepts
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The Conflicting Orientations of the Early American Republic
Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger? – Article 3 American independence and the adoption of the federal Constitution constitute two successive and distinct moments in the birth of the United States. From the resolutions of the First Continental Congress in 1774, through the Declaration of Independence in 1776, to the Constitution…
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The Deceptive Familiarity of Homer and Hesiod’s World
The ancient Greek world feels familiar: Homer’s epics, the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars, or the emergence of democracy and philosophy occupy a prominent place in Western culture and the arts, as well as in accounts of Western history. Yet this familiarity is deceptive. Western thought has inherited important concepts and practices from Greece, but that…
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Modern Conceptions and Practices of Political Liberty and Equality
Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger? – Article 2 Political liberty and equality are the two cardinal principles of contemporary democracies. Their meaning may seem familiar, yet it is far from self-evident. Liberty may refer, among other things, to independence from domination, protection against arbitrary power, participation in collective government,…
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The Drivers of Contemporary Political Chessboards
A host of emotions can crowd in today at the sight of contemporary political and geopolitical theatres: indignation and anger, stoked by proliferating violence and injustice; anxiety generated by technological revolutions and the unpredictability of actors; sadness caused by party fragmentation and national discord; joy sparked by fleeting victories; weariness sustained by the reproduction of…
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From Antiquity to the Dawn of Modern Revolutions: Did Commerce Foster Equality?
Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger? – Article 1 In Antiquity, the wealth of states rested first and foremost on agriculture.1 While commerce contributed to collective enrichment, it operated within social frameworks shaped by religion and politics. Military victories, for their part, provided booty, slaves and, in cases of conquest,…
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From Freedom of Thought to Re-examination
Freedom of thought has been my primary orientation since July 2023, when I first set out the concept of an “orientation of life”,1 and it remained so until now. In keeping with the Enlightenment,2 I conceived of it as a way of rationally calling dogmas, prejudices and practices into question. However, I was aware of…
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Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger?
In ancient Greece, the economy was not conceived as a sphere separate from politics,1 itself closely bound up with religion. It appeared in the form of practices — agriculture, craftsmanship, mining, and so on — embedded in the life of the city. Even though trade contributed, for example, to Athenian wealth, it was not regarded…
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How Interests and Values Rose and Virtue Declined (16th–18th Centuries)
In The Passions and the Interests (1977), the historian Albert O. Hirschman shows how, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the concept of interest established itself as the pivot of justificatory frameworks in political economy.1 His enquiry draws in particular on 17th-century moral philosophy, as well as on Montesquieu, Hume, and Smith. Building on those…
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Trump is a Symptom, not the Disease
Since the inauguration of Trump’s second term a year ago, the world has shifted: instead of making America great again, his arbitrary and often violent measures have made the country look increasingly hateful, turning the American dream into a nightmare. By acting like a tyrant, he improves the Democrats’ chances of winning the 2026 midterms.…
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How Technologies Are Eroding Creative Destruction
Contemporary technologies inspire radically divergent diagnoses. On one side, they are portrayed as the main engine of a new wave of growth and jobs, driven by automation, computing, the internet, and now artificial intelligence. On the other, they are taken to signal a darker rupture, in which work tends to recede—up to the point of…