Global Intellectuals

Definition and Theoretical Approaches

The term intellectual mostly refers to a single person, but as Francis Njub Nesbitt points out, other entities such as political parties and think tanks also play an intellectual role in society. However, the term seems never to be fully or commonly defined, but it is cluttered with value judgments or critical perspectives. At its broadest, as Carl Boggs suggests, intellectuals can be defined as mental workers who fill structural positions in society and who take over political or social functions.

Antonio Gramsci is one of the leading theorists of the figure of the intellectual. His concept of an “organic intellectual” is embedded in his Marxist theoretical structure emphasizing the structurally predefined position of intellectuals and their functional character. This approach attempts to level the past strong distinctions between the highly educated elites of aristocracy and the uneducated masses and acknowledges the societal changes and developments over time; it nevertheless recognizes a subtle difference since intellectuals maintain an elevated organizational role in cultural, civil, and political society.

Edmund Said sees the intellectual as a decent and relentlessly honest person who, as a sort of outsider, has the nonconformist freedom to make clear statements, resists the temptations of status or power, and scrutinizes traditions and conventional wisdom. His or her role “to speak the truth to power” underlines the outstanding position and character.

Some contemporary French thinkers and theorists claim that the time for a universal intellectual has passed. In this context, Jean-Francois Lyotard speaks of the Tombeau de l'intellectuel and argues that, if the claim to universality and the commitment to a universal quest is a feature intellectuals should bring, this cannot be attained in fragmented postmodern society. So it can be argued that definitions and theoretical approaches relating to intellectuals are severely influenced by the author's initial position and perspective. Instead, while intellectuals may have more of a global reach, they are ultimately bound to particularistic perspectives. In turn, proponents of global ethics like Hans Küng challenge this view and see global intellectuals as an important vehicle to “live by example” in striving for universal truths and moral standards.

History

Intellectuals and thought leaders have existed throughout history. Until the Enlightenment, intellectuals mainly consisted of clergy and nobles, often one and the same. With the transformation into modern society, this rigid classification weakens, and traditional and so-called Jacobin-elitist types of intellectuals are gradually replaced by either technocratic or critical intellectuals. Saint-Simon is said to have introduced the term intellectual to broader use and thought about intellectuals as “industrials [Page 700]of theory,” or the producers of sense-making and meaning in a secular world. The modern notion of the intellectual was coined at the end of the 19th century during the Dreyfus affair, in which influential writer Émile Zola published an open letter to express outrage against the subtly anti-Semitic, failing institutions in France. Although the effort at first brought a negative view on the academics and writers supporting the cause, after a short time this changed into a positive connotation. In a further shift to postmodernity, the figure of an intellectual as a universally educated, righteous person and an initiator of public debates changes into what Michel Foucault called the “specific intellectual,” focusing on specialized fields of knowledge.

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