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- Concepts (40)
- Choice-Decision (1)
- Distance (3)
- Economics (13)
- Ethics (2)
- Freedom (6)
- Idealisations (6)
- Nature (2)
- Oppositions (5)
- Politics (15)
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Current reflections
- Economy and democracy — 2026 series: whether economic transformations fostered democracy and may now undermine it.
- Interests, virtue and technology: how the growing role and interplay of interests displaced political virtue, and how technological change, intensified by international competition, is calling prosperity and work into question.
- The valorisation of the economy — 2025 series: how wealth, work, commerce and interest became organising principles of Western societies.
How Interests and Values Rose and Virtue Declined (16th–18th Centuries)
About
The philosophical reflection I pursue is neither a search for truths nor a hunt for ways to change a world riven by oppositions and idealisations. It rests on a way of life oriented towards re-examining, distance and peace.
Lastest articles
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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 of 1787, the objective shifted: the revolutionaries initially justified the colonies’ emancipation from British rule…
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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 inheritance can encourage us to project modern categories backwards. In this article, we show 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, the freedom to move and exchange, or autonomy within relations of interdependence. Equality may likewise…
Lastest snapshots
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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 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…