Intellectual

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Often called 'the Prince of the ​Humanists​', ​Erasmus of Rotterdam​ was one of the foremost intellectual
figures of his age.
 The French-American intellectual ​Jacques Barzun​ was a teacher, a man of letters, and a scholar.

An ​intellectual​​ is a person who engages in ​critical thinking​, ​research​, and ​reflection​about society and
[1]​[2]​
proposes solutions for its ​normative​ problems. Some gain ​authority​as public intellectuals.​ Coming from

the world of ​culture​, either as a creator or as a mediator, the intellectual participates in politics either to
defend a concrete proposition or to denounce an injustice, usually by rejecting, producing or extending an
[3]
ideology​, and by defending a system of ​values​.​

Contents

1​Definitions
2​Terms and endeavours
2.1​"Man of letters"
3​Historical background
3.1​19th-century
3.1.1​Britain
3.1.2​Continental Europe
3.1.3​Germany
3.2​In the East
4​Intelligentsia
4.1​Marxist perspective
5​Public intellectual
5.1​Social background
5.2​Academic background
5.3​Public policy role
6​Criticism
6.1​Intelligentsia
 7​See also
8​Notes
9​References
9.1​Footnotes
9.2​Sources
10​Further reading
11​External links

Definitions​[​edit​]
Socially, intellectuals constitute the ​intelligentsia​, a ​status class​ organised either by ​ideology​ (​conservative​,
fascist​, ​socialist​, ​liberal​, ​reactionary​, ​revolutionary​, ​democratic​, ​communist​ intellectuals, ​et al.​), or by
nationality (American intellectuals, French intellectuals, Ibero–American intellectuals, ​et al.​). The
contemporary intellectual class originated from the ​intelligentsiya​ of ​Tsarist Russia​ (c. 1860s–1870s), the
social stratum​ of those possessing intellectual formation (schooling, education, ​Enlightenment​), and who
were Russian society's counterpart to the German ​Bildungsbürgertum​ and to the French ​bourgeoisie
[4]​[a]
éclairée​, the ​enlightened middle classes​ of those realms.​

In the late 19th century, amidst the ​Dreyfus affair​ (1894–1906), an identity crisis of ​anti-semitic​ nationalism
for the ​French Third Republic​ (1870–1940), the ​reactionary​ anti–Dreyfusards (​Maurice Barrès​, ​Ferdinand
Brunetière​, ​et al.)​ used the terms ​intellectual​ and ​the intellectuals​ to deride the liberal Dreyfusards (​Émile
Zola​, ​Octave Mirbeau​, ​Anatole France​, ​et al.​) as political dilettantes from the realms of French culture, art,
and science, who had become involved in politics, by publicly advocating for the exoneration and liberation
[5]
of ​Alfred Dreyfus​, a Jewish French artillery captain falsely accused of betraying France to Germany.​

In the 20th century, the term ​Intellectual​ acquired positive connotations of ​social prestige​, derived from
possessing ​intellect​and ​intelligence​, especially when the intellectual's activities exerted positive
consequences in the ​public sphere​ and so increased the intellectual understanding of the public, by means
of ​moral​ responsibility, ​altruism​, and ​solidarity​, without resorting to the ​manipulations​ of ​populism​,
[4]​[b]​
paternalism​, and ​incivility​ (condescension).​ Hence, for the educated person of a society, participating

in the public sphere—the political affairs of the city-state—is a civic responsibility dating from the
Græco–Latin Classical era​:

I am a human; I reckon nothing human to be foreign to me. (​Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto​.)

[7]​[8]
— ​The Self-Tormentor​ (163 BC), ​Terence​

The determining factor for ​a Thinker​ (historian, philosopher, scientist, writer, artist, ​et al.​) to be considered a
public intellectual is the degree to which he or she is ​implicated​ and ​engaged​ with the vital reality of the
contemporary world; that is to say, participation in the public affairs of society. Consequently, being
designated as a public intellectual is determined by the degree of influence of the designator's ​motivations​,
opinions, and options of action (social, political, ideological), and by affinity with the given thinker;
[c]
therefore:​

The Intellectual is someone who meddles in what does not concern them. (​L'intellectuel est quelqu'un qui
se mêle de ce qui ne le regarde pas​.)

[10]
— ​Jean-Paul Sartre​

Analogously, the application and the conceptual value of the terms ​Intellectual​ and ​the Intellectuals​ are
socially negative when the practice of ​intellectuality​ is exclusively in service to ​The Establishment​ who wield
power​ in a society, as such:

The Intellectuals are specialists in ​defamation​, they are basically p

​ olitical commissars​, they are the
ideological administrators, the most threatened by ​dissidence​.

[11]
— ​Noam Chomsky​

Noam Chomsky's negative view of the Establishment Intellectual suggests the existence of another kind of
intellectual one might call "the public intellectual," which is:

... someone able to speak the truth, a ... courageous and angry individual for whom no worldly power is too
big and imposing to be criticised and pointedly taken to task. The real or true intellectual is therefore always
an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the margins of society. He or she speaks to, as well as for,
a public, necessarily in public, and is properly on the side of the dispossessed, the un-represented and the
forgotten.

[12]
— ​Edward Saïd​

Terms and endeavours​[​edit​]

The intellectual is a type of intelligent person, who is associated with ​reason​ and c​ ritical thinking​. Many
everyday roles require the application of intelligence to skills that may have a ​psychomotor​ component, for
example, in the fields of medicine or the arts, but these do not necessarily involve the practitioner in the
"world of ideas". The distinctive quality of the intellectual person is that the mental skills, which one
demonstrates, are not simply intelligent, but even more, they focus on thinking about the abstract,
[​citation needed]​
philosophical and ​esoteric​ aspects of human inquiry and the value of their thinking.​

The intellectual and the ​scholarly​ classes are related; the intellectual usually is not a teacher involved in the
production of ​scholarship​, but has an academic background, and works in a profession, practices an art, or
a science. The intellectual person is one who applies ​critical thinking​ and reason in either a professional or
a personal capacity, and so has ​authority​ in the public sphere of their society; the term ​intellectual​ identifies
three types of person, one who:

1. is ​erudite​, and develops abstract ideas and theories

2. a professional who produces ​cultural capital​, as in ​philosophy​, ​literary criticism​, ​sociology​,
[13]​
law​, ​medicine​, s​ cience​,​ and
3. an ​artist​ who ​writes​, ​composes​, ​paints​, etc.

"Man of letters"​​[​edit​]
The term "man of letters" derives from the French term ​belletrist​ or ​homme de lettres​ but is not synonymous
[14]​[15]​
with "an academic".​ A "man of letters" was a literate man ("able to read and write") as opposed to an

illiterate​ man, in a time when ​literacy​ was a rare form of cultural capital. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the
Belletrists​ were the ​literati​, the French "citizens of the ​Republic of Letters​", which evolved into the ​salon​, a
social institution, usually run by a hostess, meant for the edification, education, and cultural refinement of
the participants.

Historical background​[​edit​]
In English, the term ​intellectual​ identifies a "literate thinker"; its earlier usage, as in the book title ​The
Evolution of an Intellectual​(1920), by ​John Middleton Murry​, denotes literary activity, rather than the
[16]
activities of the public intellectual.​

19th-century​​[​edit​]
 The front page of ​L'Aurore​ (13 January 1898) featured ​Émile Zola​'s open letter, ​J'Accuse…!​, asking the
French President, ​Félix Faure​, to resolve the ​Dreyfus affair​.

Britain​​[​edit​]

In the late 19th century, when literacy was relatively common in European countries such as the ​United
[17]​
Kingdom​, the "Man of Letters" (​littérateur​)​ denotation broadened to mean "specialized", a man who

earned his living writing intellectually (not creatively) about literature: the ​essayist​, the ​journalist​, the ​critic​,
et al. In the 20th century, such an approach was gradually superseded by the academic method, and the
term "Man of Letters" became disused, replaced by the generic term "intellectual", describing the
intellectual person. In late 19th century, the term ​intellectual​ became common usage to denote the
[18]
defenders of the falsely accused artillery officer ​Alfred Dreyfus​.​

Continental Europe​​[​edit​]

In early 19th century Britain, ​Samuel Taylor Coleridge​ coined the term ​clerisy,​ the intellectual class
responsible for upholding and maintaining the national culture, the secular equivalent of the Anglican
clergy. Likewise, in ​Tsarist​ Russia, there arose the ​intelligentsia​ (1860s–70s), who were the ​status class​ of
white-collar​ workers. The theologian ​Alister McGrath​ said that "the emergence of a socially alienated,
theologically​ literate, antiestablishment lay intelligentsia is one of the more significant phenomena of the
social history of ​Germany​ in the 1830s", and that "three or four theological graduates in ten might hope to
[19]​
find employment" in a church post.​ As such, politically radical thinkers already had participated in the

French Revolution​ (1789–1799); ​Robert Darnton​ said that they were not societal outsiders, but
[20]
"respectable, domesticated, and assimilated".​

Thenceforth, in Europe, an intellectual class was socially important, especially to self-styled intellectuals,
whose participation in society's arts, politics, journalism, and education—of either ​nationalist​,
internationalist​, or ethnic sentiment—constitute "vocation of the intellectual". Moreover, some intellectuals
were anti-academic, despite universities (the Academy) being synonymous with ​intellectualism​.

In France, the ​Dreyfus affair​ marked the full emergence of the "intellectual in public life", especially ​Émile
Zola​, ​Octave Mirbeau​, and ​Anatole France​ directly addressing the matter of French ​antisemitism​ to the
public; thenceforward, "intellectual" became common, yet occasionally derogatory, usage; its French noun
usage is attributed to ​Georges Clemenceau​ in 1898.

Germany​​[​edit​]

Habermas' ​Structural Transformation of Public Sphere​ (1963) made significant contribution to the notion of
public intellectual by historically and conceptually delineating the idea of private and public.
In the East​​[​edit​]
This section ​needs
expansion​​. ​You can help by
adding to it​.​ (​ October 2017)
In ​Imperial China​, in the period from 206 BC until AD 1912, the intellectuals were the ​Scholar-officials
("Scholar-gentlemen"), who were civil servants appointed by the ​Emperor of China​ to perform the tasks of
daily governance. Such civil servants earned academic degrees by means of ​imperial examination​, and
also were skilled ​calligraphers​, and knew ​Confucian​philosophy. Historian Wing-Tsit Chan concludes that:

Generally speaking, the record of these scholar-gentlemen has been a worthy one. It was good enough to
be praised and imitated in 18th century Europe. Nevertheless, it has given China a tremendous handicap in
their transition from government by men to government by law, and personal considerations in Chinese
[21]
government have been a curse.​

In ​Joseon Korea​ (1392–1910), the intellectuals were the ​literati​, who knew how to read and write, and had
been designated, as the ​chungin​ (the "middle people"), in accordance with the Confucian system. Socially,
they constituted the ​petite bourgeoisie​, composed of scholar-bureaucrats (scholars, professionals, and
[22]
technicians) who administered the dynastic rule of the Joseon dynasty.​

Intelligentsia​[​edit​]
See also: ​Manufacturing Consent

Addressing their role as a social class, ​Jean-Paul Sartre​ said that intellectuals are the moral conscience of
their age; that their moral and ethical responsibilities are to observe the socio-political moment, and to
[23]​
freely speak to their society, in accordance with their consciences.​ Like Sartre and ​Noam Chomsky​,

public intellectuals usually are ​polymaths​, knowledgeable of the ​international order​ of the world, the political
and economic organization of contemporary society, the institutions and laws that regulate the lives of the
layman citizen, the educational systems, and the private networks of ​mass communication media​ that
[24]
control​ the broadcasting of information to the public.​

Whereas, intellectuals (political scientists and sociologists), liberals, and democratic socialists usually hold,
advocate, and support the principles of democracy (liberty, equality, fraternity, human rights, social justice,
social welfare, environmental conservation), and the improvement of socio-political relations in domestic
and international politics, the ​conservative​ public-intellectuals usually defend the social, economic, and
political ​status quo​ as the realisation of the "perfect ideals" of ​Platonism​, and present a static ​dominant
ideology​, in which utopias are unattainable and politically destabilizing of society.
Marxist perspective​​[​edit​]
In ​Marxist philosophy​, the ​social class​ function of the intellectuals (the ​intelligentsia​) is to be the source of
progressive ideas for the transformation of society; to provide advice and counsel to the political leaders; to
interpret the country's politics to the mass of the population (urban workers and peasants); and, as
required, to provide leaders from within their own ranks.

The Italian Communist theoretician ​Antonio Gramsci​ (1891–1937) developed Karl Marx's conception of the
intelligentsia to include political leadership in the public sphere. That, because "all knowledge is
existentially​-based", the intellectuals, who create and preserve knowledge, are "spokesmen for different
social groups, and articulate particular social interests". That intellectuals occur in each social class and
throughout the right wing, the centre, and the left wing of the political spectrum. That, as a social class, the
"intellectuals view themselves as autonomous from the ​ruling class​" of their society. That, in the course of
class struggle​ meant to achieve political power, every social class requires a native intelligentsia who
shape the ​ideology​ (world view) particular to the social class from which they originated. Therefore, the
leadership of intellectuals is required for effecting and realizing social change, because:

A human mass does not "distinguish" itself, does not become independent, in its own right, without, in the
widest sense, organising itself; and there is no organisation without intellectuals, that is, without organisers
and leaders, in other words, without ... a group of people "specialised" in [the] conceptual and philosophical
[25]
elaboration of ideas.​

In the pamphlet ​What Is to Be Done?​ (1902), ​Lenin​ (1870–1924) said that ​vanguard-party revolution
required the participation of the intellectuals to explain the complexities of ​socialist​ ideology to the
uneducated ​proletariat​ and the urban industrial workers, in order to integrate them to the revolution;
because "the history of all countries shows that the working class, exclusively by its own efforts, is able to
develop only ​trade-union​ consciousness", and will settle for the limited, socio-economic gains so achieved.
In Russia, as in ​Continental Europe​, Socialist theory was the product of the "educated representatives of
the propertied classes", of "revolutionary socialist intellectuals", such as were Karl Marx and ​Friedrich
[26]
Engels​.​

In the formal codification of ​Leninism​, the Hungarian Marxist philosopher, ​György Lukács​ (1885–1971)
identified the intelligentsia as the privileged social class who provide revolutionary leadership. By means of
intelligible and accessible interpretation, the intellectuals explain to the workers and peasants the "Who?",
the "How?", and the "Why?" of the social, economic, and political ​status quo​—the ideological totality of
society—and its practical, revolutionary application to the transformation of their society.

Public intellectual​[​edit​]
 ​"Role of Intellectuals in Public Life", panel featuring Michael Ignatieff, Russell Jacoby, Roger Kimball,

Susie Linfield, Alex Star, Ellen Willis, and Alan Wolfe, March 1, 2001​, ​C-SPAN

The term ​public intellectual​​ describes the intellectual participating in the public-affairs ​discourse​ of
[27]​
society, in addition to an academic career.​ Regardless of the ​academic​ field or the ​professional

expertise, the public intellectual addresses and responds to the ​normative​ problems of society, and, as
such, is expected to be an impartial critic who can "rise above the partial preoccupation of one's own
[28]​[29]​
profession—and engage with the global issues of ​truth​, judgment, and ​taste​ of the time."​ In

Representations of the Intellectual​ (1994), In summarizing a quote by E

​ dward Saïd​, Jennings and
Kemp-Welch state that the "… true intellectual is, therefore, always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile,
[30]
and on the margins of society".​

An intellectual usually is associated with an ​ideology​ or with a ​philosophy​; e.g., the ​Third Way​ centrism of
[31]​
Anthony Giddens​ in the ​Labour Government​ of T
​ ony Blair​.​ The Czech intellectual ​Václav Havel​ said that

politics and intellectuals can be linked, but that moral responsibility for the intellectual's ideas, even when
advocated by a politician, remains with the intellectual. Therefore, it is best to avoid ​utopian​ intellectuals
who offer 'universal insights' to resolve the problems of ​political economy​ with ​public policies​ that might
harm and that have harmed civil society; that intellectuals be mindful of the social and cultural ties created
[32]​[33]
with their words, insights, and ideas; and should be heard as social critics of ​politics​ and ​power​.​

Social background​​[​edit​]
The American academic ​Peter H. Smith​ describes the intellectuals of Latin America as people from an
identifiable social class, who have been conditioned by that common experience, and thus are inclined to
share a set of ​common assumptions​(values and ethics); that ninety-four per cent of intellectuals come
either from the ​middle class​ or from the ​upper class​, and that only six per cent come from the ​working
class​. In ​The Intellectual​ (2005), philosopher ​Steven Fuller​ said that, because ​cultural capital​ confers ​power
and social status, as a status group, they must be autonomous in order to be credible as intellectuals:

It is relatively easy to demonstrate autonomy, if you come from a wealthy or [an] ​aristocratic​ background.
You simply need to disown your ​status​ and champion the poor and [the] downtrodden ... autonomy is much
harder to demonstrate if you come from a poor or ​proletarian​ background ... [thus] calls to join the wealthy
in common cause appear to betray one's class origins.

[34]
— ​
The political importance and effective consequence of ​Émile Zola​ in the ​Dreyfus affair​ (1894–1906) derived
from his being a leading French thinker; thus, ​J'accuse​ (I Accuse), his open letter to the French government
and the nation proved critical to achieving the exoneration of Captain Alfred Dreyfus of the false charges of
treason, which were facilitated by institutional ​anti-Semitism​, among other ideological defects of the French
Establishment.

Academic background​​[​edit​]
In journalism, the term ​intellectual​ usually connotes "a university academic" of the ​humanities​—especially a
philosopher​—who addresses important social and political matters of the day. Hence, such an academic
functions as a public intellectual who explains the theoretic bases of said problems and communicates
possible answers to the policy makers and executive leaders of society. The sociologist ​Frank Furedi​ said
that "Intellectuals are not defined according to the jobs they do, but [by] the manner in which they act, the
[35]​
way they see themselves, and the [social and political] values that they uphold.​ Public intellectuals

usually arise from the educated élite of a society; although the North American usage of the term
[36]​
"intellectual" includes the university academics.​ The difference between "intellectual" and "academic" is

[37]
participation in the realm of public affairs.​

Public policy role​​[​edit​]

In the matters of ​public policy​, the public intellectual connects scholarly research to the practical matters of
solving societal problems. The British sociologist ​Michael Burawoy​, an exponent of ​public sociology​, said
that professional sociology has failed, by giving insufficient attention to resolving social problems, and that
[38]​
a dialogue between the academic and the layman would bridge the gap.​ An example is how ​Chilean

intellectuals worked to reestablish ​democracy​ within the r​ ight-wing​, ​neoliberal​ governments of the ​Military
dictatorship of Chile (1973–90)​, the Pinochet régime allowed professional opportunities for some liberal and
left-wing social scientists to work as politicians and as consultants in effort to realize the theoretical
economics of the ​Chicago Boys​, but their access to p
​ ower​ was contingent upon political ​pragmatism​,
[39]
abandoning the political neutrality of the academic intellectual.​

In ​The Sociological Imagination​ (1959), ​C. Wright Mills​ said that academics had become ill-equipped for
participating in public discourse, and that journalists usually are "more politically alert and knowledgeable
[40]​
than sociologists, economists, and especially ... political scientists".​ That, because the universities of the

U.S. are bureaucratic, private businesses, they "do not teach ​critical reasoning​ to the student", who then
[40]​
does not "how to gauge what is going on in the general struggle for power in modern society".​ Likewise,
Richard Rorty​ criticized the participation of intellectuals in public discourse as an example of the "civic
[41]
irresponsibility of ​intellect​, especially academic intellect".​

​Booknotes​ interview with Posner on ​Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline,​ June 2, 2002​, ​C-SPAN

The American legal scholar ​Richard Posner​ said that the participation of academic public intellectuals in the
public life of society is characterized by logically untidy and politically biased statements of the kind that
would be unacceptable to academia. That there are few ideologically and politically independent public
intellectuals, and disapproves that public intellectuals limit themselves to practical matters of public policy,
and not with ​values​ or ​public philosophy​, or public ​ethics​, or ​public theology​, not with matters of moral and
spiritual outrage.

Criticism​[​edit​]

The economist ​Milton Friedman​ identified the intelligentsia and the business class as interfering with the
economic functions of a society.
Socrates​ proposed for philosophers a private monopoly of knowledge separate from the public sphere.
(the Louvre)

The Congregational theologian ​Edwards Amasa Park​ proposed segregating the intellectuals from the
public sphere of society in the U.S.
 As an intellectual, ​Bertrand Russell​ was a pacifist who advised Britain against re-arming for ​World War I​.

In "An Interview with Milton Friedman" (1974), the American ​libertarian​ economist ​Milton Friedman​ said that
businessmen and the intellectuals are enemies of capitalism; the intellectuals, because most believed in
socialism, while the businessman expected economic privileges:

The two, chief enemies of the free society or ​free enterprise​ are intellectuals, on the one hand, and
businessmen, on the other, for opposite reasons. Every intellectual believes in freedom for himself, but he's
opposed to freedom for others. ... He thinks ... [that] there ought to be a central planning board that will
establish social priorities. ... The businessmen are just the opposite—every businessman is in favor of
freedom for everybody else, but, when it comes to himself that's a different question. He's always "the
special case". He ought to get special privileges from the government, a ​tariff​, this, that, and the other thing.
[42]
...​

In "The Intellectuals and Socialism" (1949), the British libertarian economist ​Friedrich Hayek​, said that
"journalists, teachers, ministers, lecturers, publicists, radio commentators, writers of fiction, cartoonists, and
artists", are the intellectual social class whose function is to communicate the complex and specialized
knowledge of the ​scientist​ to the general public. That, in the twentieth century, the intellectuals were
attracted to socialism and to ​social democracy​, because the socialists offered "broad visions; the spacious
comprehension of the social order, as a whole, which a ​planned system​ promises" and that such
broad-vision philosophies "succeeded in inspiring the imagination of the intellectuals" to change and
[43]
improve their societies.​
According to Hayek, intellectuals disproportionately support socialism for ​idealistic​ and ​utopian​ reasons that
[44]​
cannot be realized in practical terms.​ Nonetheless, in the article "Why Socialism?" (1949), ​Albert

Einstein​ said that ​the economy​ of the world is not private property because it is a "planetary community of
[45]​
production and consumption".​ In U.S. society, the intellectual status class are ​demographically

characterized as people who hold ​liberal​-to-​leftist​ political perspectives about ​guns-or-butter​ ​fiscal
[46]
policy​.​

In "The Heartless Lovers of Humankind" (1987), the journalist and ​popular historian​ ​Paul Johnson​ said:

It is not the formulation of ideas, however misguided, but the desire to impose them on others that is the
deadly sin of the intellectuals. That is why they so incline, by temperament, to ​the Left​. For capitalism
merely occurs; if no-one does anything to stop it. It is ​socialism​ that has to be constructed, and, as a rule,
forcibly imposed, thus providing a far bigger role for intellectuals in its genesis. The ​progressive​ intellectual
[47]
habitually entertains ​Walter Mitty​ visions of exercising power.​

The public- and private-knowledge dichotomy originated in ​Ancient Greece​, from ​Socrates​'s rejection of the
Sophist​ concept that the pursuit of knowledge (​truth​) is a "public market of ideas", open to all men of the
city, not only to philosophers. In contradiction to the Sophist's public market of knowledge, Socrates
proposed a knowledge monopoly for and by the philosophers; thus, "those who sought a more penetrating
and rigorous intellectual life rejected, and withdrew from, the general culture of the city, in order to embrace
[48]
a new model of professionalism"; the private market of ideas.​

In the 19th century, addressing the societal place, roles, and functions of intellectuals in American society,
the ​Congregational​ theologian ​Edwards Amasa Park​ said, "We do wrong to our own minds, when we carry
[48]​
out scientific difficulties down to the arena of popular dissension".​ That for the stability of society (social,

economic, political) it is necessary "to separate the serious, ​technical role​ of professionals from their
responsibility [for] supplying ​usable philosophies​ for the general public"; thus operated Socrate's cultural
dichotomy of public-knowledge and private-knowledge, of "civic culture" and "professional culture", the
social constructs that describe and establish the ​intellectual sphere of life​ as separate and apart from the
[48]​[49]
civic sphere of life.​

Intelligentsia​​[​edit​]
The American historian ​Norman Stone​ said that the intellectual ​social class​ misunderstand the reality of
society and so are doomed to the errors of ​logical fallacy​, ideological stupidity, and poor planning
[50]​
hampered by ideology.​ In her memoirs, the ​Conservative​ politician ​Margaret Thatcher​ said that the

anti-monarchical ​French Revolution​ (1789–1799) was "a ​utopian​ attempt to overthrow a traditional order ...
 [51]​
in the name of ​abstract ideas​, formulated by vain intellectuals".​ Yet, as Prime Minister, Thatcher asked

Britain's academics to help her government resolve the social problems of British society—whilst she
retained the ​populist​ opinion of "The Intellectual" as being a man of un-British character, a ​thinker​, not a
doer; Thatcher's anti-intellectualist perspective was shared by the mass media, especially ​The Spectator
and ​The Sunday Telegraph​ newspapers, whose reportage documented a "lack of intellectuals" in
[32]​[52]
Britain.​

In his essay "Why do intellectuals oppose capitalism?" (1998), ​libertarian​ philosopher ​Robert Nozick​ of the
Cato Institute​argued that intellectuals become embittered ​leftists​ because their academic skills, much
rewarded at school and at university, are under-valued and under-paid in the capitalist ​market economy​;
so, the intellectuals turned against capitalism—despite enjoying a more economically and financially
[53]
comfortable life in a capitalist society than they might enjoy in either a ​socialist​or a ​communist society​.​

In ​post-Communist​ Europe, the social attitude perception of the intelligentsia became ​anti-intellectual​; in the
Netherlands​, the word "intellectual" negatively connotes an overeducated person of "unrealistic visions of
the World". In ​Hungary​, the intellectual is perceived as an "egghead", a person who is "too-clever" for the
good of society. In the ​Czech Republic​, the intellectual is a cerebral person, aloof from reality. Such
derogatory connotations of "intellectual" are not definitive, because, in the "case of English usage, positive,
neutral, and pejorative uses can easily coexist"; the example is ​Václav Havel​ who, "to many outside
observers, [became] a favoured instance of The Intellectual as National Icon" in the early history of the
[54]
post-Communist Czech Republic.​

In the book, ​Intellectuals and Society​ (2010), the economist ​Thomas Sowell​ said that, lacking ​disincentives
in professional life, the intellectual (producer of knowledge, not material goods) tends to speak outside his
or her area of expertise, and expects social and professional benefits from the ​halo effect​, derived from
possessing professional expertise. That, in relation to other professions, the public intellectual is socially
detached from the negative and ​unintended consequences​ of ​public policy​ derived from his or her ideas. As
such, the philosopher and mathematician ​Bertrand Russell​ (1872–1970) advised the British government
against national rearmament in the years before ​World War I​ (1914–1918), while the ​German
Empire​prepared for war. Yet, the post-war intellectual reputation of Bertrand Russell remained almost
[55]
immaculate and his opinions respected by the general public because of the halo effect.​

See also​[​edit​]
● Anti-intellectualism
● Female public intellectuals
● FP Top 100 Global Thinkers
● Intellectual giftedness
● Intellectual history
● Intellectual honesty
 ● Intellectual inbreeding
● Intellectual property
● Intellectual rigor
● Intellectual virtues
● Intellectualism
● Intelligentsia
● Literacy
● Philosopher king
● Poet as legislator
● Pseudointellectual
● Scientist
● Tui (intellectual)

Notes​[​edit​]
● Jump up^​​ In ​The Twilight of Atheism​ (2004, p. 53), the theologian ​Alister McGrath​ said that
"the emergence of a socially alienated, theologically literate, anti-establishment lay
intelligentsia is one of the more significant phenomena of the social history of Germany in
the 1830s ... three or four theological graduates in ten might hope to find employment in a
Church post". In the essay, "The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature", the
cultural historian ​Robert Darnton​ said that the politically radical thinkers who had
participated in the French Revolution (1789–1799), were not social outsiders, rather they
were respectable, domesticated, and assimilated men. (pp. 1–40.) ​The Literary
Underground of the Old Régime,​ 1982.
● Jump up^​​ In the newspaper column, "Pilot Fish Among Sharks" (​El País,​ 14 June 2014),
the Spanish philosopher of ethics ​Fernando Fernández-Savater Martín​ explained the social
function of the public intellectual with an anecdote about the ​Transcendentalist​philosopher
Ralph Waldo Emerson​, at whose public conferences, in different cities, there always was
present the same uneducated woman, who answered his query about her presence, by
saying: "It's just that I like to listen to you, because you speak to us as if we were all
intelligent."
●
● Effectively so, that is precisely the specific function of the intellectual: To treat everyone
else as if they, too, were intellectuals. That is to say, to not attempt to hypnotise them, to
intimidate them, or to seduce them, but to awaken in them the mechanism of intelligence
that weighs, evaluates, and comprehends. One must start from the Socratic premise that
everyone in the world reveals himself, herself intelligent when treated as if intelligent. Is that
social function compatible with the offices of politicians? Because, more often than not, they
tend to govern themselves by the cynical principle that: "One must not treat the public as if
they were imbeciles, nor forget that they are imbeciles", which was established by the
novelist ​Frédéric Beigbeder​ (who, not in vain, began his career as an advertising man); it is
plainly obvious that those are opposite approaches. What is bad, is that the first approach
demands effort from the interlocutors—attention, reflection, and dubious sizings-up, while
the second approach flatters the primitive emotions of enthusiasm or revenge, and converts
critical thinking to satire or to swearing curses, and social problems into notorious scandal...
.
●
● Of course, the advocates of ​atavistic​ formulas periodically return to the charge, because
those emotional formulas are easily assumed out of ignorance (populism, as you already
know, is democracy for the mentally lazy), and, as such, are more necessary than ever;
thus, if there be no intellectuals in politics, at the least, there should be intellectual ethos in
public and in social discourse. Nonetheless, the lesson of personal experience often is
 negative, and the honest intellectuals whom I know always have returned crestfallen [from
politics], like the pioneer Plato returned from Syracuse... ."​[6]
●
● Jump up^​​ In the essay "​Existentialism is a Humanism​" (1946), Jean-Paul Sartre explains
the philosophical concepts of ​implication​ and ​engagement​. In ​Notas para una lectura
(​Notes for a Lecture)​ , the ​Catalan​ philosopher ​Ramón Alcoberro i Pericay​ explains Sartre's
opinion of not being engaged with one's times, and the consequent implications: ... once
one comprehends his [Sartre's] idea of "Man as Situation", it is easier to understand the
concepts of "responsibility" and "engagement". To become engaged in a concrete
situation—"to become embarked", said ​Pascal​—is the consequence of presuming that one
cannot live in pure, conceptual abstraction; everyone always is in a given "situation", and it
corresponds to us to be responsible (to respond) to that situation; simply put, neutrality is
not possible. In an editorial opinion in ​Les Temps modernes​, in 1945, Sartre wrote, "I
consider ​Flaubert​ and the B ​ rothers Goncourt​ responsible for the r​ epression​ that followed
the ​Commune​, because they never wrote, even a line, to impede it."​[9]​ See: ​What is
Literature?​ (1947)

References​[​edit​]

Footnotes​​[​edit​]
● Jump up^​​ ​The New Fontana dictionary of Modern Thought​. Third Ed. A. Bullock & S.
Trombley, Eds. (1999) p. 433.
● Jump up^​​ Jennings, Jeremy and Kemp-Welch, Tony. "The Century of the Intellectual:
From Dreyfus to Salman Rushdie", ​Intellectuals in Politics,​ Routledge: New York (1997) p.
1.
● Jump up^​​ ​Pascal Ory​ and Jean-François Sirinelli, ​Les Intellectuels en France. De l'affaire
Dreyfus à nos jours​ (​The Intellectuals in France: From the Dreyfus Affair to Our Days)​ ,
Paris: Armand Colin, 2002, p. 10.
● ^ ​Jump up to:​a​ ​b​ Williams, Raymond. ​Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society
(1983), pp. 169–71.
● Jump up^​​ Arendt, Hannah. ​The Origins of Totalitarianism​, Second Edition. (1958) pp.
89–95.
● Jump up^​​ ​Peces piloto entre tiburones,​ el País, 15 June 2014
● Jump up^​​ Howatson, M.C. (Ed.) ​The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature,​ Second
Edition. Oxford University Press. 1993. "Heau'ton timōrū'menos", 77, pp. 260–61.
● Jump up^​​ ​"LINGUIST List 4.1053: Jakobson quotation"​. ​linguistlist.org​.
● Jump up^​​ ​"Sartre. El existencialismo es un humanismo"​. ​www.alcoberro.info​.
● Jump up^​​ Annie Cohen-Solal, ​Sartre​, Gallimard, 1989, pp. 588–89.
● Jump up^​​ Mitchell, Peter R. and Schoeffel, Michael John. ​Chomsky,​ Crítica, 2002, ​ISBN
8484323781​, pg. 250.
● Jump up^​​ Jennings, Jeremy and Kemp–Welch, Anthony. (Eds.) ​Intellectuals in Politics:
From the Dreyfus Affair to Salman Rushdie,​ 1997. pp. 1–2.
● Jump up^​​ ​Sowell, Thomas​ (1980). K ​ nowledge and Decisions.​ Basic Books.
● Jump up^​​ ​The Oxford English Reference Dictionary​ Second Edition, (1996) p. 130.
● Jump up^​​ ​The New Cassel's French–English, English–French Dictionary​ (1962) p. 88.
● Jump up^​​ Collini p. 31.
● Jump up^​​ "Littérateur, n.". ​Discover the Story of English​ (Second (1989) ed.). Oxford
English Dictionary. June 2012 [First published in New English Dictionary, 1903].
● Jump up^​​ Gross (1969); see also Pierson (2006).
● Jump up^​​ ​The Twilight of Atheism​ (2004), p. 53.
 ● Jump up^​​ From "The High Enlightenment and the Low-Life of Literature", in ​The Literary
Underground of the Old Regime(​ 1982).
● Jump up^​​ Charles Alexander Moore, ed. (1967). ​The Chinese Mind: Essentials of Chinese
Philosophy and Culture.​ U of Hawaii Press. p. 22. ​ISBN​ ​9780824800758​.
● Jump up^​​ The Korea Foundation (February 12, 2016). ​Koreana - Winter 2015.​ pp. 73–74.
ISBN​ ​9791156041573​.
● Jump up^​​ Scriven 1993:119
● Jump up^​​ Scriven 1999:xii
● Jump up^​​ Jennings and Kemp-Welch, 1997:210.
● Jump up^​​ Le Blanc, Paul. ​Revolution, Democracy, Socialism: Selected Writings of Lenin
(Pluto Press, London: 2008) pp. 31, 137–138.
● Jump up^​​ Etzioni, Amitai. Ed., ​Public Intellectuals​, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006.
● Jump up^​​ Bauman, 1987: 2.
● Jump up^​​ Furedi, 2004: 32.
● Jump up^​​ Jennings and Kemp Welch, 1997: 1–2.
● Jump up^​​ McLennan, 2004.
● ^ ​Jump up to:​a​ ​b​ Jennings and Kemp-Welch, 1997.
● Jump up^​​ Jennings and Kemp-Welch, 1997: 13.
● Jump up^​​ Fuller, 2005: pp. 113–114.
● Jump up^​​ Furedi (2004)
● Jump up^​​ McKee (2001).
● Jump up^​​ Bourdieu 1989.
● Jump up^​​ Gattone 2007
● Jump up^​​ Sorkin (2007)
● ^ ​Jump up to:​a​ ​b​ Mills, 1959: 99.
● Jump up^​​ Bender, T, 1993: 142.
● Jump up^​​ ​Reason Magazine​, "​An Interview with Milton Friedman​". December 1974
● Jump up^​​ "The Intellectuals and Socialism", ​The University of Chicago Law Review
(Spring 1949),
● Jump up^​​ ​"Papers of Interest"​ ​(PDF)​. ​Mises Institute​.
● Jump up^​​ Albert Einstein (May 2009) [May 1949]. ​"Why Socialism? [1949]"​. ​Monthly
Review.​ ​61​​ (1). Retrieved 14 April 2010.
● Jump up^​​ ​"Public Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media: Section 4: Scientists,
Politics and Religion - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press"​. People-press.org.
9 July 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
● Jump up^​​ Johnson, Paul. "The Heartless Lovers of Humankind", ​The Wall Street Journal​,
5 January 1987.
● ^ ​Jump up to:​a​ ​b​ c​ ​ Bender, T, 1993: 12.
● Jump up^​​ Bender, T, 1993: 3.
● Jump up^​​ Jennings and Kemp Welch, 1997.
● Jump up^​​ Thatcher, 1993:753.
● Jump up^​​ Collini, 2006: 127.
● Jump up^​​ Nozick, Robert (January–February 1998). ​"Why do intellectuals oppose
capitalism?"​. ​Cato Policy Report​. 2
​ 0​​(1): 1, 9–11.
● Jump up^​​ Collini, 2006: 205.
● Jump up^​​ Sowell, Thomas (2010). ​Intellectuals and Society​, Basic Books ​ISBN
0-465-01948-X​, pp. 218–276 passim.

Sources​​[​edit​]
● Aron, Raymond​ (1962) ​The Opium of the Intellectuals.​ New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction
Publishers.
● Basov, Nikita ​et al.​ (2010). ​The Intellectual: A Phenomenon in Multidimensional Perspectives​,
Inter-Disciplinary Press​.
● Bates, David, ed., (2007). ​Marxism, Intellectuals and Politics.​London: Palgrave.
● Benchimol, Alex. (2016) ​Intellectual Politics and Cultural Conflict in the Romantic Period:
Scottish Whigs, English Radicals and the Making of the British Public Sphere​ (London:
Routledge).
● Benda, Julien​ (2003). ​The Treason of the Intellectuals.​ New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction
Publishers.
● Bender, Thomas (1993). ​Intellect and Public Life.​ Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University
Press.
● Camp, Roderic (1985). ​Intellectuals and the State in Twentieth-Century Mexico.​ Austin:
University of Texas Press
● Collini, Stefan​ (2006). ​Absent Minds: Intellectuals In Britain.​Oxford: Oxford University Press.
● Coleman, Peter​ (2010) ​The Last Intellectuals.​ Sydney: Quadrant Books.
● Di Leo, Jeffrey R., and Peter Hitchcock, eds. (2016) ​The New Public Intellectual: Politics,
Theory, and the Public Sphere​. (Springer)
● Finkielkraut, Alain​ (1995). T ​ he Defeat of the Mind.​ Columbia University Press.
● Furedi, Frank​ (2004). ​Where Have All The Intellectuals Gone?​London and New York:
Continuum Press.
● Fuller, Steve​ (2005). ​The Intellectual: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking.​ Cambridge:
Icon.
● Gattone, Charles. F. (2006). ​The Social Scientist As Public Intellectual: Critical Reflections In A
Changing World.​ USA: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
● Gella, Aleksander, Ed., (1976). ​The Intelligentsia and the Intellectuals.​ California: Sage
Publication.
● Gouldner, Alvin W.​ (1979). ​The Future of the Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class.​ New
York: The Seabury Press.
● Gross, John​ (1969). ​The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters​. New York: Macmillan.
● Huszar, George B. de, ed., (1960). ​The Intellectuals: A Controversial Portrait​. Glencoe, Illinois:
The Free Press. Anthology with many contributors.
● Jennings, Jeremy and Kemp-Welch, Anthony, eds. (1997). ​Intellectuals in Politics: From the
Dreyfus Affair to Salman Rushdie.​ London: Routledge.
● Johnson, Paul​ (1990). ​Intellectuals.​ New York: Harper Perennial ​ISBN​ ​0-06-091657-5​. Highly
ideological criticisms of ​Rousseau​, ​Shelley​, ​Marx​, ​Ibsen​, ​Tolstoy​, ​Hemingway​, ​Bertrand
Russell​, ​Brecht​, ​Sartre​, E
​ dmund Wilson​, V ​ ictor Gollancz​, ​Lillian Hellman​, ​Cyril Connolly​,
Norman Mailer​, ​James Baldwin​, ​Kenneth Tynan​, ​Noam Chomsky​, and others
● Kennedy, Michael D. (2015). ​Globalizing knowledge: Intellectuals, universities and publics in
transformation​ (Stanford University Press). 424pp ​online review
● Konrad, George ​et al​. (1979). ​The Intellectuals On The Road To Class Power.​ Sussex:
Harvester Press.
● Kramer, Hilton​ (1999) ​The Twilight of the Intellectuals.​ Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.
● Lasch, Christopher​ (1997). ​The New Radicalism in America, 1889–1963: The Intellectual as a
Social Type.​ New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
● Lemert, Charles (1991). ​Intellectuals and Politics.​ Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.
● McCaughan, Michael (2000). ​True Crime: Rodolfo Walsh and the Role of the Intellectual in
Latin American Politics.​ Latin America Bureau ​ISBN​ ​1-899365-43-5
● McLennan, Gregor (2004). "Traveling With Vehicular Ideas: The Case of the Third Way",
Economy and Society.​ Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 484–499.
● Michael, John (2000). ​Anxious Intellects: Academic Professionals, Public Intellectuals, and
Enlightenment Values.​Duke University Press.
● Mills, C.W.​ (1959). ​The Sociological Imagination.​ ​ Oxford University Press.
● Misztal, Barbara A. (2007). ​Intellectuals and the Public Good.C ​ ambridge University Press.
● Molnar, Thomas​ (1961). ​The Decline of the Intellectual.C ​ leveland: The World Publishing
Company.
 ● Piereson, James (2006). ​"The Rise & Fall of the Intellectual,"​The New Criterion​, Vol. XXV, p.
52.
● Posner, Richard A.​ (2002). ​Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline.​ Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press ​ISBN​ ​0-674-01246-1
● Rieff, Philip​, Ed., (1969). ​On Intellectuals.​ New York: Doubleday & Co.
● Sawyer, S., and Iain Stewart, eds. (2016) ​In Search of the Liberal Moment: Democracy,
Anti-totalitarianism, and Intellectual Politics in France since 1950​ (Springer).
● Showalter, Elaine (2001). ​Inventing Herself: Claiming A Feminist Intellectual Heritage.​ London:
Picador.
● Sowell, Thomas​ (2009). ​Intellectuals and Society.​ New York: Perseus ​ISBN​ ​978-0-465-01948-9
● Thatcher, Margaret​ (1993). T ​ he Downing Street Years.​ London: HarperCollins ​ISBN
0-8317-5448-6
● Viereck, Peter​ (1953). ​Shame and Glory of the Intellectuals.B ​ oston: Beacon Press.

Further reading​[​edit​]
● Aczél, Tamás & ​Méray, Tibor​. (1959) T ​ he Revolt of the Mind.​New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
● Barzun, Jacques​ (1959). T ​ he House of Intellect​. New York: Harper.
● Berman, Paul​ (2010). ​The Flight of the Intellectuals.​ New York: Melville House.
● Carey, John (2005). ​The Intellectuals And The Masses: Pride and Prejudice Among the Literary
Intelligensia, 1880–1939.​ Chicago Review Press.
● Chomsky, Noam​ (1968). "The Responsibility of Intellectuals." In: ​The Dissenting Academy​, ed.
Theolord Roszak. New York: Pantheon Books, pp. 254–298.
● Grayling, A.C.​ (2013). ​"Do Public Intellectuals Matter?,"​Prospect Magazine,​ No. 206.
● Hamburger, Joseph (1966). ​Intellectuals in Politics.​ New Haven: Yale University Press.
● Hayek, F.A.​ (1949). "The Intellectuals and Socialism," ​The University of Chicago Law Review,
Vol. XVI, No. 3, pp. 417–433.
● Huizinga, Johan​ (1936). ​In the Shadows of Tomorrow.​ New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
● Kidder, David S., Oppenheim, Noah D., (2006). ​The Intellectual Devotional.​ ​ Emmaus,
Pennsylvania: Rodale Books ​ISBN​ ​1-59486-513-2
● Laruelle, François​ (2014). ​Intellectuals and Power.​ Cambridge: Polity Press.
● Lilla, Mark (2003). ​The Reckless Mind – Intellectuals in Politics.​New York: New York Review
Books.
● Lukacs, John A.​ (1958). ​"Intellectuals, Catholics, and the Intellectual Life,"​ ​Modern Age,​ Vol. II,
No. 1, pp. 40–53.
● MacDonald, Heather​ (2001). T ​ he Burden of Bad Ideas.​ New York: Ivan R. Dee.
● Milosz, Czeslaw​ (1990). ​The Captive Mind.​ New York: Vintage Books.
● Molnar, Thomas​ (1958). ​"Intellectuals, Experts, and the Classless Society,"​ ​Modern Age,​ Vol.
II, No. 1, pp. 33–39.
● Moses, A. Dirk (2009) ​German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past.​Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
● Rothbard, Murray N.​ (1989). "World War I as Fulfillment: Power and the Intellectuals," ​The
Journal of Libertarian Studies,​ Vol. IX, No. 1, pp. 81–125.
● Sapiro, Gisèle. (2014). ​The French Writers' War 1940–1953(​ 1999; English edition 2014); highly
influential study of intellectuals in the French Resistance ​online review
● Shapiro, J. Salwyn​ (1920). ​"The Revolutionary Intellectual,"​The Atlantic Monthly,​ Vol. CXXV,
pp. 320–330.
● Shenfield, Arthur A. (1970). ​"The Ugly Intellectual,"​ ​The Modern Age​, Vol. XVI, No. 1, pp. 9–14.
● Shlapentokh, Vladimir​ (1990) ​Soviet Intellectuals and Political Power.​ Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press.
● Shore, Marci​ (2009). ​Caviar and Ashes.​ New Haven: Yale University Press.
● Small, Helen (2002). ​The Public Intellectual.​ Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
● Strunsky, Simeon​ (1921). ​"Intellectuals and Highbrows,"​ ​Part II​, ​Vanity Fair​, Vol. XV, pp. 52,
92.
● Whittington-Egan, Richard (2003-08-01). ​"The Vanishing Man of Letters: Part One"​.
Contemporary Review.
● Whittington-Egan, Richard (2003-10-01). ​"The Vanishing Man of Letters: Part Two".​
Contemporary Review.
● Wolin, Richard​ (2010). ​The Wind from the East: French Intellectuals, the Culture Revolution
and the Legacy of the 1960s.​Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.