Public Intellectualism

From the earliest philosophers to the latest columnists, many people throughout history have been labeled “Public Intellectuals”. These people have and continue to serve an important role in society, providing the public with figures to look to when evaluating issues that require informed opinions. Sometimes these individuals feel they know the solution to every problem, and others simply prefer to point out problems. Through Public Intellectuals, societies have literally sprung to life based on principles that had not been exhibited prior. Plato, perhaps the earliest known published Public Intellectual, outlined his vision for the perfect city in Republic (although how perfect that city would be is highly debatable). John Locke, JS Mill, and other liberal thinkers provided the inspiration for the U.S. Constitution.

Fellow blogger Stephen Mack raises up an interesting issue in his essay entitled The "Decline" of Public Intellectuals. In his post, Mack argues against the growing notion of America as being a place of “anti-intellectualism”. Instead of the country being anti-intellectual, perhaps the so-called Public Intellectuals are simply not used to receiving criticism, something that comes along with that title that many have bestowed upon themselves. Mack shoots down the ‘America as the deathbed of public intellectualism’ myth quite well in this passage:

Without replaying the whole debate, two points will suffice: One, the fact that academic institutions wield enormous financial, technological, and cultural power—and the fact that, more generally, education continues to be the centerpiece of some of our most cherished social myths (i.e., “the “American Dream”)—are both powerful reasons to doubt that Americans suffer from some instinctive hostility to intellectuals. Two, what is sometimes identified as anti-intellectualism is in fact intellectual—that is, a well articulated family of ideas and arguments that privilege the practical, active side of life (e.g., work) over the passive and purely reflective operations of the mind in a vacuum.

To expand upon his first point, academic institutions indeed harbor a tremendous amount of influence on virtually everything in American society. All one has to do is to watch any television program dealing with any particular social or scientific problem or read any academic journal and you will find representatives from hundreds of universities who are more than willing to serve the role as ‘expert’ for the masses. These people themselves form the majority of the Public Intellectuals found in this country, vastly outnumbering the few who operate solo or through the press. Who else do we turn to when an issue or topic needs explaining or further exploration? These public intellectuals deal with issues ranging from political unrest in the Middle East, to global warming, to natural phenomena and disasters, all the way to trying to explain the legal process to the masses when our favorite celebrity is arrested for driving drunk for the fifth time while high on cocaine. We as Americans look to these figures to give forth their expert opinions and derive our own thoughts from their views.

Not only do we look to these professors and intellectuals for their input, we flock to these institutions to pursue, as Mack puts it, “The American Dream”. In today’s culture, one cannot hope to find a decent job or role in society without at least a bachelor’s degree from a major university. From the moment a child is born, most parents will do everything they can to ensure their children “goes to a decent college”, and this is reflected in their upbringing. If we as Americans displayed the type of hostility towards intellectualism as claimed here by some disgruntled writers and here by Richard Posner, this obsession with pursuing high levels of education would be frowned upon, not encouraged.

As Mack alludes to, perhaps what is perceived by these pessimists as anti-intellectualism is just an alternative way of living. I would go another step forward and suggest that it may just be criticism. It is very possible that those who fancy themselves to be Public Intellectuals believe so strongly that their words are infallible that, when exposed through public channels, they retreat into their cave of self-justification and label these legitimate criticisms as an attack on intellectualism itself. Instead of behaving like true intellectuals, these commentators shun things that they do not partake in themselves and label it as un-intellectual and therefore just another chink in America’s self-worth and the further decline of society towards the idiotic.

In fact, I would also suggest that this proclamation of America’s intellectual decline is rooted in the common myth of nostalgia. In society, a yearning for the “better days” of the past can be found in every generation. Many people clamor for the days of old when people were of “stronger moral fiber” and the such. The WWII generation was “the Greatest Generation” and each subsequent generation has failed to live up to their lofty status and hopes. This can be found in many aspects of society, as we are constantly reminded by our elders of the days when there was virtually no crime and horrible things that are commonplace supposedly were unheard of. The truth is there were just as many perverts and criminals in the past, but it was simply shielded from the public eye as well as the younger members of the population. Looking at this nostalgic characteristic of the public, we can see that perhaps these intellectuals saying the world is going to hell can be lumped in with this myth of the superiority of the past. In truth, people today are far more educated than they ever have been, and society as a whole is much more in tune with the way things work and trying to look at things from a more intellectual viewpoint.

The decline of public intellectualism is merely a myth that is being spread around by a group of pessimistic and angry individuals who feel they are not being taken seriously enough. Whether it is due to the alternate lifestyles of individuals as Mack points out, or whether they are simply growing bitter with the growing world and their lack of size in it, this angry posturing is getting old. Not everything is bad with today’s society, and there is a lot of intellectualism to be found around the globe.