Every political theory assumes an anthropology, and every anthropology underwrites some political trajectory. If we are merely thinking things, or consuming animals, then our autonomy and independence are prior to any “we,” in which case the social will be a kind of grand fiction and noble lie, a derivative, secondary, “unnatural” invention. Instead of laboring in solidarity, moving in common toward a shared telos, we relate only as competitors.

– James K. A. Smith, Awaiting the King