Geoffrey Brennan probably knows how I think better than any other coauthor. For me, it is good that he serves as coeditor of the Collected Works. But most of us play without an understanding or appreciation of the rules, how they came into being, how they are enforced, how they can be changed, and, most important, how they can be normatively evaluated. We note with a mixture of admiration and envy those clever strategists who manipulate existing rules to their own advantage. It is these persons in the role of spivs rather than the sages that all too many emulate.
Intelligence abounds, but wisdom seems increasingly scarce.
Our hypothesis is corroborated by the veneration Americans accord their Founding Fathers. The wisdom and understanding of the Founders have been seriously eroded in our time. At the most fundamental level, rules find their reason in the never-ending desire of people to live together in peace and harmony, without the continuing Hobbesian war of each against all. All social science and philosophy must address this question, either directly or indirectly. In part, the relative neglect of the question in its explicit form stems from the absence of a clearly defined answer.