Civilisation and power
In earlier reflections, I argued that civilization is essentially nothing more than a set of customs—most of them governing the ordinary routines of everyday life—along with the practical means that…
The first question
Can the ultimate aim of all my inquiry be summarized in some way? I discussed this with an AI that has a fairly good grasp of what I read and…
The Boundaries of Consent
Czech Senator Daniela Kovářová (who was not yet a senator at the time) warned many years ago against the fanatical campaign against the harassment of women and against the growing…
The Meaning of Decline
The decline of a civilization is, at its core, nothing more than a change in the customs that define everyday life. That may not sound especially alarming at first. But…
Constitutional Illusions
The Czech debate over the Constitutional Court’s decisions follows a curious pattern. A case is brought before the Constitutional Court. The opposition (by which I mean the parties that won…
The Return of Zero-Sum
An observation from the Czech-British anthropologist Ernest Gellner: In societies where production expands rapidly—for example, industrial societies that quickly adopt new innovations, though not only those—people can improve their circumstances…