Alterman & Lilla lovefest

[Gordon Fitch]

Well, I don't know.  These people weren't intellectuals in
the sense I think ML is using the word.  They had active minds
and engaged in "intellectual" pursuits like reading and writing
books, but they didn't occupy a social role in which they were
supposed to do the thinking for other people.  Most of them
had day jobs.  Now, this might not be an important distinction
if everybody were going to speak truth to power, but as you
say ML thinks the _intellectual_ should not speak truth to it
but run around and see how he or she can best serve it, so I
wonder if he means _no_one_ should speak truth to power, or if
this pastime should be consigned to street people, taxi drivers,
businessmen and other types outside the company of the elect 
(and the walls of the palace).  Someone should ask him.

-- Gordon

Justin Schwartz:
> Gordon: Fair enough. I ahdn't ben thinkinga bout "intellectuals." Jefferson 
> was one is anyone was. Garrison was a  preacher, Stowe a writer, so they 
> qualify at least occupationally. Wasshington was just a general and 
> politician. Replace him with Franklin or Paine, the real thing, or indeed 
> with Madison or Hamilton, ditto. jks
> 
> 
> >
> >Mark Lilla:
> > > >The intellectuals of our time I have most admired as models of
> > > >probity and good sense were Raymond Aron and Isaiah Berlin. Aron,
> > > >because he punctured the myth of the intellectual as moral critic
> > > >"speaking truth to power." He understood that thinking responsibly in
> > > >modern democratic society means mastering the complexities of that
> > > >society and putting oneself in the shoes of those who must make
> > > >decisions
> >
> >Justin Schwartz:
> > > This is an extraordinarily revealing comment. We are not, it seems, to 
> >speak
> > > truth to power. We are instead supposed to figure out how to exercise it 
> >for
> > > ends that are taken as given. How utterly vile and contemptible. If
> > > Washington and Jefferson had taken that line, we'd still be singing "God
> > > Save the Queen," and if William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Beecher Stowe 
> >had
> > > done so, we'd be thing about how to ameliorate the lot of the slaves. 
> >jks
> >
> >I wonder if Mark Lilla would characterize any of those four
> >as "intellectuals" in the sense he's using the word above.
> >I wouldn't.  Maybe he thinks intellectuals are impossibly
> >tainted by their roles, and somebody else should do the job
> >of speaking truth to power.  (Indeed, the notion of having a
> >thinking _class_ suggests authority, discipline and obedience.)
> >Anyway, someone should ask him who, in his view, _should_ do
> >the speaking-truth thing, and let him waffle it out.
> >
> >-- Gordon
> >
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

-- 

                (<><>)         /*/

       }"{   G*rd*n   }"{   gcf at panix.com   }"{ 
{ http://www.etaoin.com | latest new material 8/30/01 <-adv't