Say what you like about the tenets of populism, it certainly seems to be, well, popular. But what are the tenets of populism? It’s easy enough to say what a centre-left party is likely to stand for, or a libertarian. But a populist? Maybe it is a mistake to describe populism as an ideology at all.

The Canadian philosopher Joseph Heath recently published an essay making an intriguing argument: maybe populism isn’t a set of beliefs, or even a set of tactics, but an appeal to a way of thinking. Specifically, populists stand for common sense and in opposition to the pretentious theories of the elites.

“People are not rebelling against economic elites,” writes Heath. Instead, this is “a rebellion against [cognitive] executive function”. In this view, populism is a movement that appeals to people who trust their gut, rather than those who rely on some too-clever-by-half argument.