First, thanks to this author for yet another erudite, incisive essay.

We mustn't, however, overlook the impact on humanity of the advent of civilization--the existence of cities. After all, that led from spoken language to written language, and the impact of that difference is difficult to overstate.

The quote in the article from Kant is a precursor to the Postmodern insight that every human being has the capacity to decide for oneself what one will accept as truth or knowledge--or true knowledge.

One question we humans cannot escape is how society ought to be governed. We do have an inveterate tendency to live together in organized groups.

Is there a finally true answer to that question? Ideally, any proposed answer would be 'true' for all people: would follow from a source that all people could 'see'. No belief--sacral/theological or secular/ideological--can be that. That leaves out equally Liberalism and Fascism for governing the governance of society. Both rest on (opposing) secular beliefs (or beliefs that can be secular or sacral).

I have (fully) developed an account of justice that has as its starting point an observation within material existence (which I got from Warren J. Samuels, via Dr. Fred Boadu when I was a graduate student — in political economy, where philosophy and economics intersect — at Atlanta University): human beings have no choice but to effect choices. That makes choosing integral to being human. That makes the ethic of 'real justice', as I have come to call it, a requirement for every person to respect the capacity to choose of all other people in effecting any choice (whether for oneself or on behalf of any other person, organization, or cause). Hence, justice is 'mutual respect in effecting choices'. For individuals it all boils down to a handful of absolute prohibitions: no killing, harming, coercing, stealing, or manipulating (which includes lying, cheating, etc.) in effecting any choice. (“Harming” in particular does call for a bit more discussion.)

If curious, "Can't Get Any Simpler" is a "2 min read" here in Medium with links to several articles on the topic. (Nothing I publish here in Medium is behind the paywall).