The title of the talk is law and manners and manners for us in 2023 or seen as archaic. And I have to say, living in Israel, you don't wear a tie almost never. In many wealthy and civilized countries that no longer keep those rules that we call manners. But for Molten, manners are much broader. It's saying that it's really closer to whether you're a mensch or not,. A mensch being a person of upstanding behavior, male or female.
Civilization and the pleasantness of everyday life depend on unwritten rules. Early in the 20th century, an English mathematician and government official, Lord Moulton, described complying with these rules as "obedience to the unenforceable"--the area of personal choice that falls between illegal acts and complete freedom. Listen as economist Michael Munger talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the power and challenge of the unenforceable.