Orthodoxies are rules that people collectively support with little in the way of questioning. Orthodoxy authorises its practitioners to secure privileges, and to benefit from the collective identity. Orthodoxy demands conformity to secure the numbers that lead to collective privilege.

I don’t mind the forms of orthodoxy so much as the widespread habit of failing to question the authority of orthodoxy in the first instance. People behave in an orthodox manner in order to access aristocratic privileges, and yet they fail to take on what might be considered aristocratic responsibilities.

Doctors and lawyers are among the worst offenders, and architects are not much better. Those who combine orthodoxy and ambition are the most suspicious of all.