From the Financial Times (who knew?), a precis of the contemporary French intellectual scene. Some intriguing perspectives. Perhaps best is the final quip by Edgar Morin: “The more the world relies on specialists, the more indispensable is the role of intellectuals.”
Love that kind of self-justification. Formidable.
Via Arts & Letters Daily.
June 6, 2008 at 12:25 am |
The FT’s weekend magazine has had an overhaul. I cannot say I like it much better than the older version – their shifting the book reviews from the handy magazine to the broadsheet section has meant that the magazine is over half-way through my Saturday lunch.
So yes, I read this article too. That particular weekend was heavy on intellectuals.
As for specialisation etc, I am tempted to leave this link here (and I submit to it):
http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/lost-in-translation/
Philosophers are no substitutes for independent thinking, grounded in reality people who can say things clearly without going woolly. A friend of mine, English, philosophy major, said to me – even Kant’s mother had no clue what he was on about!
June 6, 2008 at 12:28 am |
Oh and I might as well add that my complicated posts get very small readerships. I guess they all are conferring with philosophers instead…
June 8, 2008 at 12:16 am |
“that particular weekend was heavy on intellectuals” — sounds like a snippet from my life. :0
“Philosophers are no substitutes for independent thinking” — not sure of this. Sounds like a regional thought bias. Then again, I was just thumbing through a new Routledge anthology on British Empiricism, so I could also be biased. :)
Kant was a poor boy from 18th century Konigsburg who re-situated western thought. No surprise that his mother couldn’t understand him…
And nobody reads my complicated posts, either. Mention the Spartans, however, and everybody flocks to your door…
July 9, 2008 at 11:09 pm |
Ever read U.G. Krishnamurti? I’ve been on about him for about 2 years now.
All books, are free here. Other links can be found on this site for free videos and audio recordings.
July 10, 2008 at 11:32 am |
Heard the name. Not French, for sure…And more mystic than public intellectual, I think. But I appreciate the link and so will my readers, I’m sure.
July 10, 2008 at 12:41 pm |
Oops! My mistake. On that note, UG wished a book of his quotes was called the “Mistake of Enlightenment” rather than the “Mystique of Enlightenment”.
Thanks for this blog site. I found it through a post you wrote on Daniel Pinchbeck. I found it very insightful.
July 11, 2008 at 8:45 am |
Glad you like the blog. On the Pinchbeck front, it’s notable that combining mysticism and being a public intellectual is also a possibility, one he engages in with mixed results. Worth the effort, though.