The Public Intellectual

The intellectual as someone who ‘speaks truth to power’ and therefore lacks power does not initially seem to accord with the philosopher king who combines both. Yet as this chapter shows, intellectuals have power, albeit one derived from their distance from political authority. The tragedy for intellectuals is that the more their advice and counsel is heeded and even adopted, the closer they come to political power, losing the distance that sustained their moral and political legitimacy and therefore authority. The chapter examines intellectuals as modern philosopher kings who confront and need to negotiate a new paradox of wisdom and power. It starts by defining an intellectual by drawing on the reflections of intellectuals. It then investigates whether the separation of truth and power they seek is feasible, before evaluating its merits from the perspective of both the intellectuals and politics. It concludes by assessing the claim that due to critiques of Enlightenment progress and advances in modern communication technologies, intellectuals are in decline, challenging their prospect as modern philosopher kings.