The populist manifesto: Why policy trumps rhetoric and how Ye might synthesise Bernie and Trump’s platforms into one unity campaign for the American working class

‘I could build a new Rome in one day.’ Ye, ‘Clique’, from Kanye West Presents, Good Music - Cruel Summer As the title of this article suggests, I want to propose a populist manifesto — a manifesto to transfer power from the wealthy and powerful back to the people of the world. This does not … Continue reading The populist manifesto: Why policy trumps rhetoric and how Ye might synthesise Bernie and Trump’s platforms into one unity campaign for the American working class →

The real ‘crisis of masculinity’ and its resolution

1. Violence is endemic to society. 2. But our society denies violence, while while failing to cure, that is, end, it. Napoleon at the battle of Friedland, Horace Vernet, 1807. 3. Men tend to enact violence through history. 4. Our society therefore ironically denies masculinity through violent discipline — the threat of violence by the … Continue reading The real ‘crisis of masculinity’ and its resolution →

The China crisis, the motte-and-bailey fallacy, and the war between Russia and the West in Ukraine

There is a bizarre to-and-fro that goes on in debates about the war in Ukraine, in particular imitating the ‘motte-and-bailey’ medieval castle with outer and inner fortifications. These arguments go from one leg to another, refusing to endorse any particular truth and entertaining a contradiction that demonstrates the falsity of their fundamental claim: that it … Continue reading The China crisis, the motte-and-bailey fallacy, and the war between Russia and the West in Ukraine →

On the origin of societies: Towards a theory of social evolution

The following is also available as a YouTube talk, here, after I presented these tentative findings as a "three-minute thesis" at Selwyn College in the spring of 2022. Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species speculated that traits are more likely to be passed on from organism to organism if they aid the organism's survival … Continue reading On the origin of societies: Towards a theory of social evolution →

Will history end? Musings on the war of ideas

A legacy piece from 2017. “History” is an ambiguous word, albeit a common one. But defining history’s limits is worthwhile, as we all partake in history’s course every time we speak to a friend, write a letter or send a meme on Facebook. For philosophers Hegel, Kant and Marx, history was the history of ideas. … Continue reading Will history end? Musings on the war of ideas →