The argument here is extremely simple, and extremely important. I shall put it in numerical terms. One is a dangerous number. Those who can only count to one are extremely dangerous. Two is a very important number. Those who can count to two – and here I include all liberals and sceptics – are capable of recognising that the world is not simple and should not be subjugated to one king, one law, one policy, one protocol. They want to keep questions open. But two is a weak number. The Greeks called it ‘indefinite’. It only has force when it has a civilisation and conviction behind it. The number two cannot support itself. It always advocates fracture, or division, and cannot itself offer us any good reason why we ought to do this rather than that. Crushingly, it cannot offer good reason why we should defend liberalism, scepticism or that major achievement of practical liberalism and practical scepticism, ‘politics’. The most important number is three. Only those who can count to three are capable of finding a reason to defend the number two: because, by reaching the number three, they are attempting to recognise the undoubted power and importance of one, and also the absolute necessity to have some sort of safeguard against it, as symbolised by the number two.
Now, I am sure that most of you will already be complaining about why this cabalistic, hermetic, Pythagorean nonsense is here in the pages of the Daily Sceptic. I hope to show that it does make sense. Let me do it in three steps: one, two and three.
To read the rest of this article, you need to donate at least £5/month or £50/year to the Daily Sceptic, then create an account on this website. The easiest way to create an account after you’ve made a donation is to click on the ‘Log In’ button on the main menu bar, click ‘Register’ underneath the sign-in box, then create an account, making sure you enter the same email address as the one you used when making a donation. Once you’re logged in, you can then read all our paywalled content, including this article. Being a donor will also entitle you to comment below the line, discuss articles with our contributors and editors in a members-only Discord forum and access the premium content in the Sceptic, our weekly podcast. A one-off donation of at least £5 will also entitle you to the same benefits for one month. You can donate here.
There are more details about how to create an account, and a number of things you can try if you’re already a donor – and have an account – but cannot access the above perks on our Premium page.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.