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An intellectual (from the adjective meaning "involving thought and reason") is a person who uses his or her intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a profession capacity, or for personal reasons. An intellectual is a person who uses their intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. ... For other uses, see Person (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Intelligence (disambiguation). ... are you kiddin ? i was lookin for it for hours ... A profession is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science is applied. ...

Terminology and basic issues

"Intellectual" can be used to mean, broadly, one of three classifications of human beings:

1. An individual who is deeply involved in abstract erudite ideas and theories.
2. An individual whose profession solely involves the dissemination and/or production of ideas, as opposed to producing products (e.g. a steel worker) or services (e.g. an electrician). For example, lawyers, educators, politicians, and scientists.^[1]
3. An individual of notable expertise in culture and the arts, expertise which allows them some cultural authority, which they then use to speak in public on other matters.

Look up erudition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about authority as a concept. ...

Historical perspectives

The English term "intellectual" conveys the general notion of a literate thinker. In its earlier uses, such as John Middleton Murry's The Evolution of an Intellectual (1920), there was little in the way of connotation of public rather than literary activity.^[2] John Middleton Murry (August 6, 1889 - 1957) was an English author and writer. ...

Men of letters

The expression "man of letters", has been used in some Western cultures to describe contemporary male intellectuals. The term is rarely used to denote "scholars": it is not synonymous with "academic". For this articles equivalent regarding the East, see Eastern culture. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ...

The term "man of letters" implied a distinction between those who could read and write, and those who could not. The distinction had great weight when literacy was not widespread. "Men of letters" were also termed literati (from the Latin), as a group; this phrase may also refer to 'citizens' of the Republic of Letters. Literati survives as a term of abuse and is used in journalism. Literatus, in the singular, is rarely found in English - the English term is litterateur (from the French littérateur). The Republic of Letters grew during the late 1700s in France in salons, many of which were run by women. In terms of modern usage, "Master of letters" can be attributed to individuals having completed master courses in theological studies. Children reading. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A Salon of Ladies by Abraham Bosse A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horaces definition of the...

19th-century English usage

By the late eighteenth century, literacy was becoming more widespread in countries such as the United Kingdom. The concept of a "man of letters" shifted to a more specialised meaning, as a man who made his living by writing about literature - usually not creative writers as such, but rather essayists, journalists and critics. This kind of activity was gradually replaced in the twentieth century by a more academic approach, and the term "man of letters" fell into disuse, to be replaced by the more generic and gender-neutral term "intellectual." This term first came into common use at the end of the nineteenth century, when it was used as a term for the defenders of Alfred Dreyfus; see below. The rise and fall of the term "man of letters", and indeed of the literary activity it described, has been charted.^[3] For other uses, see Essay (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Alfred Dreyfus in an army uniform. ...

Modes of 'intellectual class' in nineteenth-century Europe

Samuel Coleridge speculated early in the nineteenth century on the concept of the clerisy, a class rather than a type of individual, and a secular equivalent of the (Anglican) clergy, with a duty of upholding (national) culture. The idea of the intelligentsia, in comparison, dates from roughly the same time, and is based more concretely on the status class of 'mental' or white-collar workers. Alister McGrath comments that '[t]he 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 find employment [in a church post]'.^[4] Thinkers who were radicals had already played a part in the French Revolution: Robert Darnton writes that they were not outsiders but “respectable, domesticated, and assimilated.^[5] Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... The notion of an intellectual elite as a distinguished social stratum can be traced far back in history. ... The sociologist Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification in which he defines status class (also known as a status group) as a group of people (part of a society) that can be differentiated on the basis of non-economical qualities like honour, prestige and religion. ... White-collar workers perform tasks which are less laborious yet often more highly paid than blue-collar workers, who do manual work. ... Alister E. McGrath (b. ... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Robert Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian, recognized as a leading expert on eighteenth century France. ...

From that time onwards, in Europe and elsewhere, some variant of the idea of an intellectual class has been important (not least to intellectuals, self-styled). The degrees of actual involvement in art, or politics, journalism and education, of nationalist or internationalist or ethnic sentiment, constituting the 'vocation' of an intellectual, have never become fixed. Some intellectuals have been vehemently anti-academic; at times universities and their faculties have been synonymous with intellectualism, but in other periods and some places the centre of gravity of intellectual life has been elsewhere. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... // Journalism is the discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. ... Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation between nations for the benefit of all. ... An ethnic group is a group of people who identify with one another, or are so identified by others, on the basis of a boundary that distinguishes them from other groups. ...

One can notice a sharpening of terms, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Just as the coinage scientist would come to mean a professional, the man of letters would more often be assumed to be a professional writer, perhaps having the breadth of a journalist or essayist, but not necessarily with the engagement of the intellectual. A scientist, in the broadest sense, refers to any person that engages in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices and traditions that are linked to schools of thought or philosophy. ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ...

The Dreyfus affair in France at the end of the nineteenth century is often indicated as the time of full emergence of the intellectual in public life; particularly as concerns the role of Émile Zola, Octave Mirbeau and Anatole France, in speaking directly on the matter. The term "intellectual" became better known from that time (and the derogatory implication sometimes attached). The use of the term as a noun in French has been attributed to Georges Clemenceau in 1898. The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal with anti-Semitic overtones which divided France from the 1890s to the early 1900s. ... Émile Zola (IPA: ) (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French writer, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted Army officer Alfred Dreyfus. ... Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (February 16, 1848 in Trévières - February 16, 1917) was a French journalist, art critic, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde. ... Anatole France (April 16, 1844 – October 12, 1924) was the pen name of French author Jacques Anatole François Thibault. ... In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... Georges Clemenceau, by Nadar. ...

Outside the West

In reference to ancient China, the term literati is used to designate the government officials who formed the ruling class in China for over two thousand years. These scholar-bureaucrats were a status group of educated laymen, not ordained priests. They were not a hereditary group: their position depended on their knowledge of writing and literature. After 200 B.C. the system of selection of candidates was influenced by Confucianism and established its ethic among the literati. The Hundred Flowers Campaign in China was largely based on the government's wish for a mobilization of intellectuals; with very sour consequences later. Scholar-bureaucrats or scholar-officials were civil servants appointed by the emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance during the Qing Dynasty. ... The sociologist Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification in which he defines status class (also known as a status group) as a group of people (part of a society) that can be differentiated on the basis of non-economical qualities like honour, prestige and religion. ... In religious organizations , the laity comprises all lay persons, i. ... This article is about religious workers. ... Bloodline redirects here. ... A Confucian temple in Wuwei, Peoples Republic of China. ... The Hundred Flowers Campaign, also termed the Hundred Flowers Movement, (Chinese: 百花运动, bǎihuā yùndòng) is the period referring to a brief interlude in the Peoples Republic of China from 1958 to 1966 during which the Communist Party authorities permitted or encouraged a variety of views and solutions...

In reference to Joseon Korea, the term literati designates the chungin, a small middle class of government employees, technical experts, professionals, and scholars. Territory of Joseon after Jurchen conquest of King Sejong Capital Hanseong Language(s) Korean Religion Neo-Confucianism Government Monarchy King  - 1392–1398 Taejo (first)  - 1418–1450 Sejong the Great  - 1776–1800 Jeongjo  - 1863–1897 Gojong (last)1 Prime Minister  - 1431–1449 Hwang Hui  - 1466–1472 Han Myeonghoe  - 1592–1598 Ryu... The chungin also jungin, were the educated professionals and literati in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. ...

Public intellectual life

The public intellectual is assumed to be a communicator and participant in public debates, accessible in mass media. Such a person communicates information and perspectives on a variety of societal issues, not just a specialist area. The role visibly overlaps with that of a journalist, therefore, so that the question is, what makes a "public" intellectual distinctive? This matter is linked to media as well as to the intellectual life. Public intellectuals are primarily concerned with ideas and knowledge. Their social role means that they respond and react to society's issues and problems. They can provide a voice for others who may not have the skills, time or opportunity. They should be prepared to listen to a multitude of differing opinions and beliefs, and to construct their own conclusions taking these into account. Intellectuals also involve themselves with issues not specifically related to their area of expertise. Intellectuals may ‘rise above the partial preoccupation of one’s own profession [...] and engage with the global issues of truth, judgement and taste of the time’.^[6][7] The contemporary scene offers many different forms of media such as an Internet blog, a lecture or forum, television and radio, and print. An intellectual is a person who uses their intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. ... Popular press redirects here; note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint The Popular Press. Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ...

The role, effectiveness and behaviour of public intellectuals have been debated since the phenomenon acquired a name. The debate is framed differently in different countries, and the very possibility of their place has been questioned. Although some intellectuals may and attempt to gain acceptance and recognition in contemporary society, according to Edward Said this has been virtually impossible: the Edward Wadie Saïd, Arabic: , , (1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and Palestinian activist. ...

...real or “true” intellectual is therefore always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile and on the margins of society,’^[8]

Many intellectuals are seen as having a close relationship to certain political administrations, an example being Anthony Giddens with Tony Blair's Labour Government, with respect to the ideas of The Third Way.^[9] Vaclav Havel claims that politics and intellectuals can be linked but also states that responsibility to their ideas, even if presented by a political leader, lies with the intellectual and therefore he claims that Utopian intellectuals should be avoided as they offer what they deem to be universal insights that can and have potentially harmed society.^[10] Instead, he argues that attention should be granted to those who are mindful of the ties that are created through their thoughts, ideas and words. It is these intellectuals that Havel contends should be, ‘“...listened to with the greatest attention, regardless of whether they work as independent critics, holding up a much needed mirror to politics and power, or are directly involved in politics”.’^[11] Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens (born January 18, 1938) is a British sociologist who is renowned for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, adherents of the Third Way The Third Way, or Radical center, is a centrist political philosophy of governance that embraces a mix of market and interventionist philosophies. ... Václav Havel [VAWTS-lav HA-vel] (born October 5, 1936) is a Czech writer and dramatist. ...

Relationship with academia

In some contexts, especially journalistic speech, intellectual refers to academics, generally in the humanities, especially philosophy, who speak about various issues of social or political import. These then are by definition the so-called public intellectuals — in effect communicators with a theoretical base. Academics do generally stick to their own area of expertise or research, whereas intellectuals apply differently what are the same types of book knowledge and capacity for abstraction. For other uses, see Humanities (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ...

Frank Furedi wrote that "Intellectuals are not defined according to the jobs they do but the manner in which they act, the way they see themselves, and the values that they uphold".^[12] Still, public intellectuals do usually emerge from the educated elite, and North American usage tends to place them with academics.^[13] A type of convergence with, and participation in, the open, contemporary public sphere separates them from other academics. Going outside a specialism and addressing the general public allows an academic to become a public intellectual.^[14] In general practice, 'intellectual' as a label is more consistently applied to participants in fields related to culture, the arts and social sciences including law than it is to those working disciplines in the natural sciences, applied sciences, mathematics or engineering. Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent, UK. Previously, as Frank Richards, he was founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain, a left-wing political party which was expelled from the International Socialists in the 1970s, styling itself as the Revolutionary Opposition. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... This article is about Arts as a group of disciplines. ... The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. ... The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ... Applied science is the art of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems. ... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying scientific knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria. ...

The public intellectual at times brings controversial topics (evolution, religion, global warming, genetic modification) in the forefront of public discussion. They often speak in the issues of the day, but may try to answer unanswerable questions, and to act on moral imperatives more than considerations of career.^[15] The public intellectual has been identified with a role of controversy, conflict and contradiction, since the Dreyfus affair, and polemic writing that goes well outside academic protocol. The term public further masks an assumption or several, in particular on academia, for example that intellectual work goes on generally in private, and there is a gap to society that requires bridging. Debate as to whether academics can and should become public intellectuals is therefore also related to the converse questions: of whether academis is too enclosed, or academics are preoccupied with protecting their work from scrutiny beyond peer review, reluctant to share their work with the world for public criticism and contestation. Thomas Bender for example, states that academics ‘orient themselves nonetheless almost exclusively to professional structures and contexts, jealously defending their autonomy’;^[16] and would rather contest and debate with fellow academics than with the wider population. The argument on the Ivory Tower has been restated by Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that intellectuals now only come out of the ‘Ivory Tower’ when backed into a corner.^[17] This article is about evolution in biology. ... Global warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earths near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. ... Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM), and gene splicing (once in widespread use but now deprecated) are terms for the process of manipulating genes in an organism, usually outside of the organisms normal reproductive process. ... The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal with anti-Semitic overtones which divided France from the 1890s to the early 1900s. ... Look up Polemic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ... For other uses, see Ivory Tower (disambiguation). ... Pierre Bourdieu (August 1, 1930 â€“ January 23, 2002) was an acclaimed French sociologist whose work employed methods drawn from a wide range of disciplines: from philosophy and literary theory to sociology and anthropology. ...

Bourdieu has argued, contrariwise, that intellectual autonomy is at risk through the relationship between the intellectual and the world of politics. He says that this must be looked at in regards to a wider pattern of conflict that exists, between intellectuals and the organisational pressures that they encounter on a regular basis. Bourdieu, himself a ‘labelled’ intellectual, states that politics is a world of censorship as ‘...the efforts of powerful political groups seek(ing) to rein in the ideas of intellectuals and keep them within a circumscribed set of boundaries’.^[18] The employment of intellectuals by the state to Bourdieu is a negative position, as the state then becomes influential in the espoused words of the intellectual, as though their conditions of employment they are prevented from ‘...stepping too far outside the limitations considered appropriate by the dominant classes.’^[18]

It has been said that ‘academic careerism has dealt a serious body blow to the continued vitality of intellectual life’.^[19]. The customs of academia have an impact on the effectiveness of public intellectuals, simply because the two aspects have distinctive aims and methods of support. Attempts have been made to create programs and initiatives in which public intellectualism can be taught, namely at Florida Atlantic University. “FAU” redirects here. ...

Public policy debates

The role of a public intellectual may be to connect scholarly research with public policy. Michael Burawoy, an exponent of public sociology, criticises ‘professional sociology’ for failing to give sufficient attention to socially important subject matter, blaming academics for losing sight of important public events and issues. Burawoy supports ‘public sociology’ to give the public access to academic research. This process necessitates a dialogue between those in the academic sphere and the public, meant to bridge the gap which still exists between the more homogeneous world of academia and the diverse public sphere. It has been argued that social scientists who are well aware of the various thresholds crossed in passing from academic to public policy adviser are much more effective.^[20] A case study on this passage^[21] shows how intellectuals worked to re-establish democracy within the Pinochet regime in Chile. This transition created new professional opportunities for some social scientists, as politicians and consultants, but entailed a shift toward the pragmatic in their politics, and a step away from the neutrality of academia. Public policy or ordre public is the body of fundamental principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. ... Michael Burawoy is a Marxist sociologist, best known as author of Manufacturing Consent (a famous study on work and organizations) and as a leading proponent of public sociology. ... Public sociology is an approach to the discipline which seeks to transcend the academy and engage wider audiences. ... Government Junta of Chile (, 1973 - , 1990) (Spanish: ) was the political structure established to rule Chile following the overthrow of President Salvador Allende in the Chilean coup of 1973. ...

C. Wright Mills, in The Sociological Imagination, argued that academics had become ill-equipped for the task and that, more often that not, journalists are ‘more politically alert and knowledgeable than sociologists, economists, and especially [...] political scientists’.^[22] He went on to criticize the American university system as privatized and bureaucratic, and for failing to teach ‘how to gauge what is going on in the general struggle for power in modern society’.^[22]. Richard Rorty was also critical of the ‘civic irresponsibility of intellect, especially academic intellect’.^[23] Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916, Waco, Texas – March 20, 1962, West Nyack, New York) was an American sociologist. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Sociological Imagination The Sociological Imagination (ISBN 0195133730) was a book written by C. Wright Mills in 1959. ... Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 - June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. ...

Richard Posner concentrates his criticism on "academic public intellectuals"; claiming their declarations to be untidy and biased in ways which would not be tolerated in their academic work. Yet he fears that independent public intellectuals are in decline. Where writing on the academic public intellectual Posner finds that they are only interested in public policy, not with public philosophy, public ethics or public theology, and not with matters of moral and spiritual outrage. Their input has come to be on hard-headed policy questions, rather than values. He also sees a decline in their factual accuracy, linked to a reliance on qualitative and fallible reasoning. Richard Allen Posner (born January 11, 1939, in New York City) is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. ...

Critics on the Right

Edwards A. Park once said “we do wrong to our own minds when we carry out scientific difficulties down to the arena of popular dissension”.^[24] In this, Park wanted ‘to separate the serious technical role of professionals from their responsibility of supplying usable philosophies for the general public’. ^[24] This is a rationale for maintaining a private/public knowledge dichotomy, and Bender differentiates between ‘civic culture’ and ‘professional culture’, in order to describe the different spheres in which academics can operate.^[25] This attitude goes back a long way: Socrates disliked the Sophist's idea of a market of ideas in the public domain, and instead advocated a monopoly of knowledge. 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 a new model of professionalism’.^[24] Edwards Amasa Park Edwards Amasa Park (, 1808, Providence, Rhode Island - , 1900) was an American Congregational theologian. ... This page is about the Classical Greek philosopher. ... Sophism was originally a term for the techniques taught by a highly respected group of philosophy and rhetoric teachers in ancient Greece. ...

Conflicting views and opinions of the intellectual set the tone for criticism of the public intellectual's role in society. The typical right-wing view takes intellectuals to be too theoretical, with shallow roots in real life. Whilst quite generally the term intellectual has negative connotations, such as, in the Netherlands as having ‘unrealistic visions of the World,’ and Hungary as being ‘too clever’ or an ‘egg-head’ to the Czech Republic as discredited and an almost shameful term relating to being cut off from the reality of things, Stefan Collini also states that this is not the full representation of the term, as in the ‘...case of English usage, positive, neutral and pejorative uses can easily co-exist,’and Havel, as an example, ‘...to many outside observers [became] a favoured instance of the intellectual as national icon.’ (Collini, 2006: 205) within the Czech Republic. ^[26] In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ...

Norman Stone states that intellectuals are, a class, if not the class that got things badly wrong, doomed to error and stupidity.^[27] Margaret Thatcher in her memoirs described the French Revolution as ‘...a Utopian attempt to overthrow a traditional order [...] in the name of abstract ideas, formulated by vain intellectuals.’^[28] Thatcher as Prime Minister called on selected academics, while retaining a common view of the intellectual as un-British, shared with journals such as The Spectator and The Sunday Telegraph.^[10] Norman Stone (1941-) is a British historian of modern Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ... Cover of the Nov 12, 2005 issue of The Spectator magazine. ... This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ...

Intellectuals, liberalism and conservative thinking

Jean Paul Sartre pronounced intellectuals to be the moral conscience of their age, their task being to observe the political and social situation of the moment, and to speak out -- freely -- in accordance with their consciences (Scriven 1993: 119). Jean Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre (June 21, 1905–April 15, 1980) was a French existentialist philosopher, dramatist, novelist and critic. ...

Like Sartre and Noam Chomsky, many public intellectuals hold knowledge across a vast array of subjects including: "the international world order, the political and economic organisation of contemporary society, the institutional and legal frameworks that regulate the lives of ordinary citizens, the educational system, the media networks that control and disseminate information. Sartre systematically refused to keep quiet about what he saw as inequalities and injustices in the world" (Scriven 1999: xii). Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author and lecturer. ...

Whereas intellectuals, particularly in politics and the social sciences, and liberal socialists ordinarily support and engage in democratic principles such as, freedom, equality, justice, human rights, social welfare, the environment and political and social improvement, both domestically and internationally, most conservatives, including Margaret Thatcher, are interested in upholding security and elitism. This can be demonstrated, for example, by the fact that UK foreign policy is shaped and managed by a domestic elite that shares the same viewpoint on all major aspects of foreign policy. According to the historian, Mark Curtis in his book: Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World, this elite spans the influential figures in all the mainstream parties, the civil service and technocrats who implement the policy, and also senior academic and media figures who help shape public opinion. This elite promotes the basic pillars of Britain's role in the world, such as: strong general support (involving consistent apologia) for US foreign policy and maintaining a special relationship; maintaining a powerful interventionist military capability and using it; promotion of 'free trade' and worldwide economic 'liberalisation'; retention of nuclear weapons; promoting military industry and Britain's role as an arms exporter; and strong support for the traditional order in the Middle East, Gulf regimes and other key bilateral allies (Curtis 2003: 286). Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ...

This single ideological foreign policy is exemplified by Bernard Ingham (Margaret Thatcher's former press spokesman), who stated: "Bugger the public's right to know. The game is the security of the state - not the public's right to know" (Curtis 2003: 285). Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ...

Marxism and intellectuals

Marxists interest themselves in the status of intellectuals for a number of reasons: their class position, the way they form a reservoir of ideas, and in the public sphere their ability to interpret and their potential as leaders. At the same time, intellectuals (from Karl Marx onwards) have taken an interest in Marxism from the most varied angles. A widely held view by Marxists is that intellectuals are alienated and anti-establishment. Although Marx seemed to imply in his reference to intellectuals that they are constantly engaged in an instinctive struggle with established institutions, including the state, 'such a struggle could be carried on within such institutions and in support of established institutions and against change'. Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An institution is a group, tenet, maxim, or organization created by a group of humans. ...

Antonio Gramsci, a theorist on intellectuals, argued many years ago that 'intellectuals view themselves as autonomous from the ruling class'. He suggests that this conceptualisation 'originates with intellectuals themselves, not with students of intellectual life'. His standpoint is that every social class needs its own intelligentsia, to shape its ideology, and that intellectuals must choose their social class. The extent to which ideological currents have influenced the twentieth century milieu has caused some observers of intellectual life to make ideology part of the definition of an intellectual. Lewis Feuer expresses this view when he states that 'no scientist or scholar is regarded as an intellectual unless he adheres to or seems to be searching for an ideology'. Antonio Gramsci (IPA: ) (January 22, 1891 – April 27, 1937) was an Italian writer, politician and political theorist. ... The notion of an intellectual elite as a distinguished social stratum can be traced far back in history. ... An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... Lewis Samuel Feuer (1912-2002) was an American sociologist. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ...

Marxists believe intellectuals resemble the proletarian by reason of their social position, making a living by selling their labour and therefore are often exploited by the power of capital. On the other hand, intellectuals perform mental work, often managerial work, and due to their higher income, they live in a manner comparable to that of the bourgeois. Intellectuals have been neutral instruments in the hands of different social forces. However, Marxists believe that ‘all knowledge is existentially based, and that intellectuals who create and preserve knowledge act as spokesmen for different social groups and articulate particular social interests’. Gramsci has a Intellectuals offer their knowledge on the market, Marxists suggest that ‘under modern Western capitalism, the intellectuals make commodities of the ideologies they produce and offer themselves for hire to the real social classes whose ideologies they formulate, whose intelligence they will become’. Marx believed that intellectuals aim to universalise their ideologies ‘then turn about and expose the partiality of those ideologies.’ The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... The word commodity has a different meaning in business than in Marxian political economy. ...

Yet, for Harding^[29], Marx's theory of the rise of the proletariat was to rely on the intellectuals of that historical period, as stated by Gramsci:

"A human mass does not 'distinguish' itself, does not become independent in it's [sic] 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 conceptual and philosophical elaboration of ideas."^[30]

In this situation, as with other areas of society, it is the intellectuals, not the proletariat, who are to define the emancipation of the workers. According to Harding (1997), for the creation of any mass consciousness of ideals, intellectuals are essential. Alongside Gyorgy Lukacs, he also considers that, as a privileged class, it is they, not the workers who can interpret 'totality', giving them the right to be considered leaders. Lenin also maintained that the ideology of socialism was beyond the comprehension of the working classes. The intellectual level which was necessary for the development of such ideologies was, he maintained, out of the reach of the average worker.^[31] For other uses, see SIC. Sic is a Latin word meaning thus, so, as such, or just as that. In writing, it is placed within square brackets and usually italicized—[sic]—to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, punctuation, and/or other preceding quoted material has been reproduced... Georg Lukács (April 13, 1885 - June 4, 1971) was a Hegelian and Marxist philosopher and literary critic. ... Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ...

Marxists believe that intellectuals talk and communicate in a certain language that is distinctive to other intellectuals and middle-class populations. Alvin Gouldner labels this language 'critical-reflexive discourse'. By this, Gouldner argues that 'intellectuals universally agree that their positions be defended by rational arguments and that the status of the individual making the argument should have no bearing on the outcome'. Alvin Ward Gouldner (1920; New York – 1980) was professor of sociology at Washington University in St. ...

The political views of intellectuals

According to a paper by Robert Nozick at the Cato Institute, it is more common for intellectuals to have leftist political views than right-wing, but no definite explanation has been found for this phenomenon. ^[32] Origins Ideas Topics Related Philosophy Portal Politics Portal        Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 â€“ January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher and Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. ... The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institutes stated mission is to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and peace by striving to achieve greater involvement...

Pseudointellectuals

Noam Chomsky has argued that intellectuals (and their work) may become corrupted by group interests, power seeking, funding incentives, self-censorship, etc. ^[33] Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author and lecturer. ...

Furthermore, Chomsky has stated that historically intellectuals have been supportive of power systems:^[34]

"The historic role of intellectuals if you look, unfortunately, as far back as you go has been to support power systems and to justify their atrocities."

Background of public intellectuals

Peter. H. Smith suggests that 'people from an identifiable social class, for instance, are conditioned by that common experience, and they are inclined to share a set of common assumptions'. With regard to figures, ‘94 per cent come from the middle or upper class ... only 6 per cent come from working class backgrounds’.

Cultural capital confers power and status. Steve Fuller points this out in his book The Intellectual, where he writes that in order to be a credible intellectual you need to have an increased sense of autonomy; “It is relatively easy to demonstrate autonomy if you come from a wealthy or aristocratic background. You simply need to disown your status and champion the poor and downtrodden”.^[35]. He then goes on to write; “Autonomy is much harder to demonstrate if you come from a poor or proletarian background... calls to join the wealthy in common cause appear to betray one’s class origins”.^[36] Émile Zola's importance in the Dreyfus Affair was because he was already a “leading French thinker, [that] his letter formed a major turning-point in the affair”. Although he was put on trial for his part in the affair, he had financial independence and was able to leave the country in order to escape his legal situation. Cultural capital, is the knowledge, experience and or connections one has had through the course of their life that enables them to succeed more so than someone from a less experienced background. ... Steve Fuller in 2005. ...

Many of the worlds intellectuals, as viewed by the public, have graduated from elite universities, therefore being taught by the preceding generation of intellectuals themselves. Taking as examples three of the top rated intellectuals at the moment; Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens,^[37], Chomsky has ties with MIT, Dawkins with Oxford and Hitchens with Oxford. Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author and lecturer. ... Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ... Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949) is a British-American author, journalist and literary critic. ...

There are certainly exceptions. Harold Pinter, for example, originated from a "low middle-class background", and is successful as playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, poet, and political activist. These activities have cumulatively formed his status as a public intellectual. Harold Pinter, CH, CBE (born 10 October 1930) is an English playwright, screenwriter, poet, actor, director, author, and political activist. ...

Women and public intellectual life

This article is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (January 2008)

Prominent female intellectuals contending in the public debates include; Emma Goldman, Germaine Greer, Barbara Ehrenreich, Susan Faludi, and in an older generation Iris Murdoch, Hannah Arendt and Simone De Beauvoir, to name but a few. Some consider, though, in comparison to their male counterparts, women have faced a harder time in being accredited as public intellectuals. David Herman, writer and television producer asks, is it a result of institutional sexism in the media and Universities? David Goodhart, editor of Prospect, argues that ‘...men [...] still dominate our intellectual and cultural lives’.^[38] Susan Sontag, considered to be a leading female public intellectual in the United States, died in late 2004. Her death raised many questions, including, is there anyone to take her place? And where are all the female intellectuals?^[39] On the side of academia, it is only in more recent decades that women in numbers have been able to advance themselves and achieve recognition as a specialist or expert. The list given is dominated by scholarly feminists. Emma Goldman, circa 1910 Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. ... Germaine Greer (born January 29, 1939) is an Australian-born writer, broadcaster and retired academic, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the 20th century. ... Barbara Ehrenreich (born August 26, 1941, in Butte, Montana) is a prominent liberal American writer, columnist, feminist, socialist and political activist. ... Susan C. Faludi (born April 18, 1959 ) ) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of two well-known books and won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1991, for a report on the leveraged buy-out of Safeway Stores, Inc. ... Dame Jean Iris Murdoch DBE (July 15, 1919 – February 8, 1999) was an Irish-born British writer and philosopher, best known for her novels, which combine rich characterization and compelling plotlines, usually involving ethical or sexual themes. ... Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975) was a German Jewish political theorist. ... La Beauvoir redirects here; also see: Beauvoir (disambiguation). ... This article is about the actor and comedian. ... David Goodhart is the Editor of Prospect, a British current affairs magazine. ... This article is about the current affairs magazine. ... Image needed Susan Sontag (January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American essayist, novelist, filmmaker, and activist. ... Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ...

Feminist intellectuals, however, may find that both resentment and worship are symptoms of the feelings that they must endure from the public, such as many of the intellectual First Ladies of America do, namely, Hillary Clinton, Eleanor Roosevelt and Betty Ford, to name just a few. It is no wonder that such women may find comfort in the private realm from the hostility faced in the public world, but is this not also symptomatic of the male public intellectual who returns to the safety and comfort of the ‘ivory tower’ when under pressure of hostility and aggression? (Showalter, 2001). Steve Fuller states, that the failing of female public intellectuals does not rest on them as individuals so much as it does on them as a collective. He asserts that male intellectuals use each others works, cite them and use them as support. Fuller claims that this ‘network of support’ is not apparent in female intellectuals works and that they don’t use each other in the manner that they should, a manner that would advance their cause immeasurably (Fuller, 2007 cited in Barton, 2004). Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. ... Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (IPA: ; October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. ... Betty Fords official White House portrait, painted in 1977 by Felix de Cossio Elizabeth Anne Bloomer Warren Ford (born April 8, 1918) is the widow of former United States President Gerald R. Ford and was the First Lady from 1974 to 1977. ... Steve Fuller in 2005. ...

Although few female public intellectuals are recognized by the public, The Guardian did in the wake of its list of male public intellectuals also compose a list of the top 101 overlooked women intellectuals. For other uses, see Guardian. ...

Bioethics and public intellectualism

Bioethics has intense public interest, despite the fact that it is an academic specialisation. It provokes debate on an array of socially important issues involving medicine, technology, genetic research etc. Examples of scientists who have occupied a unique role in public intellectualism are Richard Dawkins with his work on evolution, and Charles Darwin. Bioethics is the ethics of biological science and medicine. ... For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ...

It has been suggested that public intellectuals bridge the gap between the academic elite and the educated public, particularly when concerning issues in the natural sciences like genetics and bioethics. There are distinct differences between academics in the traditional sense and public intellectuals. Academics are typically confined to their academy or university and tend to concentrate on their chosen academic discipline. This is usually specific to western academia, following large scale investment into higher education after the Cold War and growth in the number of academic institutions. This in turn has led to hyperspecialisation within academic life- the specialization of particular disciplines and confining it to the classroom. This has become known as "the academisation of intellectual life". A public intellectual, although often starting out in academia, is not confined to a specific discipline or to traditional boundaries. Public intellectuals should not be confused with experts, who are people who have mastery over one specific field of interest. This development has encouraged a gap between academics and the public. Public intellectuals convey information through multiple mediums, often appearing on television, radio and in popular literature. As Richard Posner states, "a public intellectual expresses himself in a way that is accessible to the public". They synthesize academic ideas and relate them to wider socio- political issues. The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ... This article is about the general scientific term. ... Bioethics is the ethics of biological science and medicine. ... The University of Cambridge is a prestigious institute of higher learning in the U.K. Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by universities, vocational universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, institutes of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools and... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of knowledge or skill whose judgement is accorded authority and status by the public or their peers. ...

There has been a general call for natural scientists and bioethicists to play more of a role in public intellectualism as their disciplines have such relevance to civil society. Scientists and bioethicists already play major roles in review boards, government commissions and ethics committees, it is easy to see how their research can have public relevance. Since academia is hidden away, it has been argued that scientists, and bioethicists in particular should realise their duty to society by assuming the role of a public intellectual. This would mean taking their relevant research and communicating it through mass media to the wider concerns of the public. Increased public interest in bioethics has increased the responsibility for bio ethicists to become more engaged in the public domain- not in an expert role, but as instigators of public discourse. The Michelson–Morley experiment was used to disprove that light propagated through a luminiferous aether. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society as opposed to the force-backed structures of a state (regardless of that states political system) and commercial institutions. ... For a List of scientists, see: List of anthropologists List of astronomers List of biologists List of chemists List of computer scientists List of economists List of engineers List of geologists List of inventors List of mathematicians List of meteorologists List of physicists Scientist pairs List of scientist pairs See... This article is about the concept. ... Popular press redirects here; note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint The Popular Press. Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. ...

See also

The length of this "see also" section may adversely affect readability. Please ensure that the "see also" links are not mentioned elsewhere in the article, are not red links, are as few in number and as relevant as possible. (January 2009)

Look up intellectual or literati in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Academia
• Anti-intellectualism
• Autodidacticism
• Female Public Intellectuals
• Feminism
• Hundred Schools of Thought
• Intellectual history
• Intellectual honesty
• Intellectual inbreeding
• Intellectual property
• Intellectual rigor
• Intellectual virtues
• Intellectualism
• Independent scholar
• Intelligentsia
• La trahison des clercs
• Michel Foucault's conception of a "specific intellectual"
• Naturalism
• Natural philosophy
• Philistinism
• Polymath
• School of Literati
• The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll
• Tui (intellectual)

Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... Anti-intellectualism describes a sentiment of hostility towards, or mistrust of, intellectuals and intellectual pursuits. ... Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) is self-education or self-directed learning. ... A Public Intellectual can be defined as somebody who uses his or her intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate on or ask and answer questions about a wide variety of ideas. ... Feminists redirects here. ... The Hundred Schools of Thought (諸子百家 Pinyin: zhÅ« zǐ bÇŽi jiā) was an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China that lasted from 770 BCE to 222 BCE. Coinciding with the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and also known as the Golden Age of Chinese thought... Intellectual history means either: the history of intellectuals, or: the history of the people who create, discuss, write about and in other ways propagate ideas. ... For the medical term see rigor (medicine) Rigour (American English: rigor) has a number of meanings in relation to intellectual life and discourse. ... Intellectual inbreeding or academic inbreeding refers to the practice in academia of a universitys hiring its own graduates to be professors. ... For the 2006 film, see Intellectual Property (film). ... For the medical term see rigor (medicine) Rigour (American English: rigor) has a number of meanings in relation to intellectual life and discourse. ... Character traits necessary for right action and correct thinking. ... An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. ... An independent scholar is anyone who works outside of traditional academia in the pursuit of truth and knowledge. ... The notion of an intellectual elite as a distinguished social stratum can be traced far back in history. ... Julien Benda (December 26, 1867 – June 7, 1956) was a French philosopher and novelist. ... Michel Foucault (pronounced ) (15 October 1926–25 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian, critic and sociologist. ... Naturalism may refer to: Naturalism (philosophy), any of several philosophical stances wherein all phenomena or hypotheses commonly labeled as supernatural, are either false, unknowable, or not inherently different from natural phenomena or hypotheses Methodological naturalism is the methodological assumption that that observable events in nature are explained only by natural... For the current in the 19th century German idealism, see Naturphilosophie Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature, known in Latin as philosophia naturalis, is a term applied to the objective study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Leonardo da Vinci is regarded in many Western cultures as the archetypal Renaissance Man. A polymath (Greek polymathÄ“s, πολυμαθής, having learned much)[1][2] is a person with encyclopedic, broad, or varied knowledge or learning. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... Some of the public intellectuals who won The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll. ... A Tui is an intellectual who sells his or her abilities and opinions as a commodity in the marketplace or who uses them to support the dominant ideology of an oppressive society. ...

References

• Bender, T., (1993), Intellect and Public Life, The John 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.
• de Huszar, George B., ed., 1960 The Intellectuals: A Controversial Portrait. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press. Anthology with many contributors).
• Fuller, Steve, 2005, The Intellectual: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking, Icon.
• Furedi, Frank, 2004, Where Have All The Intellectuals Gone?, Continuum,
• Furedi, F. (2004), Where have all the Intellectuals gone?, Continuum Press.
• Gattone, Charles. F. (2006) The Social Scientist As Public Intellectual: Critical Reflections In A Changing World, USA: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
• Gross, John, 1969 The rise and fall of the man of letters. (Pelican edition, 1973).
• Jennings, Jeremy and Kemp-Welch, Anthony, eds. (1997), Intellectuals in Politics: From the Dreyfus Affair to Salman Rushdie.
• Konrad, George et al. (1979) The Intellectuals On The Road To Class Power, Sussex: Harvester Press
• Michael McCaughan, True Crime: Rodolfo Walsh and the Role of the Intellectual in Latin American Politics, Latin America Bureau 2000, ISBN 1-899365-43-5
• McLennan, Gregor (2004) Travelling With Vehicular Ideas: The Case of the Third Way, Economy and Society. Vol. 33, No. 4. London and New York: Routledge; Taylor and Francis Ltd.
• Mills, C.W., (1959), The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press.
• Johnson, Paul, Intellectuals. Perennial, 1990, ISBN 0-06-091657-5. A highly ideological onslaught discussing Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Victor Gollancz, Lillian Hellman, Cyril Connolly, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Kenneth Tynan, Noam Chomsky, and others
• Piereson, James, 2006 The rise & fall of the intellectual The New Criterion, September 2006
• Posner, Richard A., 2002, Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-00633-X.
• Showalter, Elaine (2001) "Inventing Herself: Claiming A Feminist Intellectual Heritage", London: Picador
• Thatcher, Margaret (1993), The Downing Street Years, London: HarperCollins.

Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930), is an American economist, political writer, and commentator. ... Knowledge and Decisions is a non-fiction book by American economist Thomas Sowell. ... This article is about the literary magazine. ... Steve Fuller in 2005. ... Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent, UK. Previously, as Frank Richards, he was founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain, a left-wing political party which was expelled from the International Socialists in the 1970s, styling itself as the Revolutionary Opposition. ... JOhn Gross is the editor of TLS. ... Paul Johnson (born Paul Bede Johnson on 2 November 1928 in Manchester, England) is a British Roman Catholic journalist, historian, speechwriter and author. ... Rousseau redirects here. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822; pronounced ) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... This article is about the Norwegian playwright and poet. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , Russian pronunciation:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo (Lyof, Lyoff) Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ... Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 — July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. ... Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... {{dy justified his choice of form, and from about 1929 on he began to interpret its penchant for contradictions, much as had Eisenstein, in terms of the dialectic. ... Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ... Edmund Wilson (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer, noted chiefly for his literary criticism. ... Victor Gollancz (April 9, 1893–February 8, 1967) was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian. ... Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was a successful American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes. ... Cyril Vernon Connolly (10 September 1903 - 26 November 1974) was an English intellectual. ... Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. ... James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – November 30, 1987) was an American novelist, writer, playwright, poet, essayist, and civil rights activist. ... Kenneth Peacock Tynan (April 2, 1927 - July 26, 1980), was an influential and often controversial British theatre critic and writer. ... Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author and lecturer. ... Judge Richard Allen Posner (born 1939) is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. ...

Further reading

• Kidder, David S., Oppenheim, Noah D., "The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class", 2006. ISBN 1-59486-513-2
• Whittington-Egan, Richard (2003-08-01). "The vanishing man of letters: Part one". Contemporary Review. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-107897411.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-10. 
• Whittington-Egan, Richard (2003-10-01). "The vanishing man of letters: Part two". Contemporary Review. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-110266770.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-10. 

There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

External links

• A Special Supplement: The Responsibility of Intellectuals By Noam Chomsky, February 23, 1967
• Posner's table of 600+ public intellectualsPDF (105 KiB) classified by such variables as sex, professional and disciplinary affiliation, political leaning, media affiliation, Web hits, and scholarly citations.
• Where are the great women thinkers? Thinking so much about women has shrunk their minds By Charlotte Allen, February 16, 2005.
• Here's A Few You Missed By Laura Barton, July 2, 2004.
• Dear Nathaniel Isaac Wenger