Re-reading the chapter on paideia and power from Persuasion and Power in Late Antiquity, I was struck by the following passage:
A lurking fear of arbitrary violence, untrammeled by legal and political constraints, insensibly shifted the weight of philosophical discussion towards ethical issues, involving self-formation and control of the passions.
It occurs to me that this states quite well my own thinking in promoting the idea of eunomia, my frequent references over the years to restraint, limits, asceticism and kenosis, and in criticizing abuses of power, unjust uses of force and violations of human dignity since late 2004. All of this is a recognition of the importance of restraint in curtailing these abuses, as well as an acknowledgment that in the absence of accountability for egregious abuses the best that can be done is to try to establish some measure of good order where one can.



Daniel, I might disagree with you on occasion (clearly not always, or even often) but I commend you for your efforts to establish eunomia in your own little corner of the world. If all politics is local, so is order, restraint in the exercise of power, and the acceptance of limits. I’m not so sure about asceticism, and kenosis carries with it entirely too much religion, even though in principle I am okay with kenosis.
I like reading you. Thanks for writing.
Jake