The work presented in this book has stretched over many years. Allow me therefore to extend a general expression of my gratitude to all the people, circles and networks, not to forget all the institutions, organizations and technology, maintained and governed by innumerable people, and paid for by even more, without which this work would not be worth presenting. Over the passing decades, this plurality of material, corporal and ideal entities has collectively enabled me to work on these matters that I hold so dear, refining and developing my ideas, and without this totality, the material results of all my good intentions would be far less interesting and readable.

At least, this is the conclusion I would argue, empirically as well as normatively. The social division of labour cannot but add to the quality of specialized academic work. Hence, the romantic ideal of the thinker – always male, sitting all by himself in his attic (or his mountain cabin), alone with his thoughts, supplied only with quill, paper and candle – could not be further from the realities of modern day academics. And so it should be; for me there are no regrets regarding professional specialization of intellectual work and the possibilities provided by technological globalization, i.e. the internet. If only we could have had it without capitalism…

The academic acknowledgements regarding specific chapters are placed in the Acknowledgements section below. Here I will simply thank those wonderful people who stood by me and helped me keep up my good spirits, especially in the final phases of completing the manuscript for this first volume of Dialectics, Deontology and Democracy.

Allow me to thank my editor, Lisbet Rosenfeldt Svanøe, for her highly competent work and friendly assistance, allowing me to focus on the content without worrying too much about matters of form, and even providing me with valuable suggestions and philosophical insights to refine my arguments along the way. A special thanks also to Eskil Riskær, who generously read the volume as a whole prior to production, contributing not only to the proofreading, but also to the structure and the precision of the argument.

The spring term 2016 at University of Sussex was where this volume really took form. Thanks to Gordon Finlayson, the local faculty decided to award me the title of Visiting Research Fellow, and with such an esteemed title came all kinds of facilities provided by the School of History, Art History and Philosophy (hahp), the Department of Philosophy and the Centre for Social and Political Thought (spt). Included was thus an office, a series of seminars and conferences, some very accommodating and able philosophical colleagues – apart from Gordon, I would in particular like to thank Anthony Booth, Mahon O’Brien and Darrow Schecter – and the helpful staff at the hahp office. Thanks to all of them, to Gavin the porter, and especially to Jeanette, Jackie and Sheila who hosted me at the guesthouse at the Institute of Development Studies (ids).

Still, my deepest gratitude when it comes to Sussex goes to Gordon, director of spt, and his remarkable wife Blaire. They greeted the lone rider upon arrival, provided him with a bicycle, and saw to that he was alright throughout the three month stay – Gordon even took the time to take me to the cricket field and explain the intricate details of this very British sport!

Of course, nothing compares to my own wife Britta who, on the one hand, originally encouraged me to undertake the work that I am in the process of presenting here and who has supported it actively from start to finish, but who, on the other hand, retains a healthy scepticism with regard to professional philosophical reflections and those who spend too much time on such activities. Behind every man … This book is for her!

Frederiksberg

August 2016