I’m glad you’ve stumbled upon this fledgling blog, a project which myself and several others have wanted to get off the ground for quite some time now.

Speaking generally, the purpose of Capital & Command is to address a broad range of questions in philosophy and political theory – questions concerning democracy, sovereignty, and authority; the nature of justice and its relation to power; and the effect that capitalism and the development of technology has on all the aforementioned categories which we use to understand our political reality. Further, all of these topics will be covered in a number of ways: expect to see essays, book reviews, commentaries on current events, and some occasional lighthearted satire.

At this point in this introduction to Capital & Command, I hope that you, a (potential) future patron of this blog, are now asking yourself: does this blog have an agenda? and is it committed to any particular ideology?

To answer the first question – yes! The entire purpose of Capital & Command is to provide its readers with essays that they find thought-provoking, relevant, and at least a little bit insightful. Nothing will ever appear on this blog because we’ve been paid to put it here. Neither “sponsored content” nor any other form of hidden advertising or messaging have any place here. That being said, if anyone has a book they would like to see us review, be they a publisher, a reader, or an independent author themselves, we are more than happy to be sent some free copies! Just know that our review will be fully our own: nothing influences our decisions about what we publish or the opinions we express while doing so except, well, our own opinions.

Now, to answer the second question in a roundabout sort of way: Capital & Command is neither pro- nor anti-capitalist; it’s not socialist, communist, or Marxist; and it isn’t “liberal” or “conservative,” whatever meaning you think these last two terms still possess. It’s important to note, however, that even though this blog isn’t a strict proponent of any one of these traditions in political thought, it does take all of them seriously. Thinkers like Karl Marx, Thomas Hobbes, and Friedrich Hayek all demand serious study and engagement, regardless of one’s opinions on socialism, communism, liberalism, or capitalism.

Capital & Command does, however, have some ideological and theoretical commitments. First, as the former part of its name suggests, this blog will (usually) take for granted the material and political reality of capitalism, as a force that presently dominates world affairs and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. It isn’t the purpose of this blog to evaluate whether or not capitalism is itself “ethical,” or whether there exists a potentially more “ethical” way to arrange our material and political reality. While these questions are undoubtedly important, they nevertheless fail to adequately address the truly political questions that will emerge as capitalism continues to develop and shape our reality. At some point, we will be forced to confront the political and existential questions presented to us by such forces as rapid technological development and the radical transformation of our environment. The question concerning whether or not capitalism itself is ethical will be of no aid when we are forced to navigate and understand these new conditions.

Second, as suggested by the latter part of its name, Capital & Command will (usually) adopt a stance toward political action and motivation that broadly aligns with political realism. Following in the tradition passed down to us by Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Hobbes, the “fundamental” lens through which Capital & Command will view politics and political questions will be power and the forms it assumes under capitalism. One consequence of this view is that this blog rejects, for the most part, any utopian theory that sees the development of capitalism and technology as an inherently liberating, neutral force to which all groups ought to surrender. Because technology is itself an expression of and a means to achieve power, technology alone cannot and never will be the solution to problems that are rooted in power itself, i.e., problems that are essentially political in nature.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this longer-than-expected introduction to Capital & Command. We hope that you’ll come to learn from and enjoy the content that will soon begin appearing here.

We will leave you with two quotes to consider – quotes which relate to what has been said in this introduction to Capital & Command, and quotes which, we think, reflect deep truths about the human condition.

“All these hardships came upon them during this war, which began when the Athenians and Peloponnesians broke the Thirty Years’ Peace that had been agreed between them… I believe that the truest reason for the quarrel, though least evident in what was said at the time, was the growth of Athenian power, which put fear into the Lacedaemonians and so compelled them into war…” — Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War

“…since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” — Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War