Posts Tagged ‘intellectualism’
Edward Said’s Representations of the Intellectual
Representations of the Intellectual contains 6 essays, originally delivered as the BBC’s Reith Lectures, on the role of the intellectual in society. Below are some thematic quotes, and a few of my thoughts.
Universals: “Freedom of expression can not be sought indiviously in one territory and ignored in another.” (89)
There need to be universals otherwise everyone would do what they think is right. ["In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (90) This sounds very unappealing and distopian to me.] Chomsky’s writing is a great example of this, because he holds all sides to account, where other so-called intellectuals decry the trampling of freedoms in other countries, but defend the USA’s own imperialist actions (e.g. Michael Ignatieff). (more…)