Representations of the Intellectual

Definitions, submitations and descriptions of intellectuals have always been numerous and various, depending on the factors and criteria of assessment. That has guide to the rise of many questions: Who argon intellectuals? Who do they address? Who and what do they represent? And how do they represent that?. These questions atomic number 18 to be answered ground on Saids essay Representations of the Intellectual in which he provides an eclectic take deferral of on intellectuals and their role in society that rests on the flora of many writers such as Benda, Gramsci, Gouldner and many others.\nIn his book, La Trahision des Clercs (the Treason of Intellectuals), Benda sees intellectuals as a small gathering of gifted individuals who represent the virtues and the sense of right and wrong of mankind. He later divides them into two categories: Real Intellectuals and Traitors, thereof the title. For him, real intellectuals do non seek any individualised practical aims, but the y ar in a uninterrupted opposition to the status quo and they contradict corruption and oppression scorn the hazards they may face, which threaten their synthetic rubber and even their lives. They also hold truths and justices beyond the material world. still this point was criticized because Benda did not spread abroad the source of these truths, which led to their equality to Don Quixotes illusions Benda never suggests how it is that these men know the truth, or whether their blinding insights into eternal principles might, bid those of Don Quixote, be exact more than private fantasies. As for traitors, they are intellectuals who cooperate with the judicature to spread its propaganda and endorse its policies. They do so by concealing the truth and conveying nonsensical messages instead.\nFor the Italian Marxist Gramsci, intellectuals are individuals who are involved in both the production and dissemination of knowledge, and based on this function, he divides them int o Traditional intellectuals who perform the very(prenominal) tasks throughou... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website:

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