“WHERE DID all the intellectuals go? In an era when heated arguments on current affairs TV shows pass for reasoned debate and condensed newspaper opinion pieces try to convey complex theories, the era of the prominent public intellectual seems a mirage.
Yet back in the 17th and 18th centuries there was such a vibrant tradition of engagement with ideas across Europe that the scene even had a catchy nickname, the Republic of Letters. The role of public intellectual was seen as a critical one in terms of shaping society’s sense of self and adding rigour to public debate. Now, we’re more likely to find society’s sense of self being shaped by Simon Cowell.
Of course, it’s wise to remember that those intellectuals and writers of the Republic of Letters disproportionately influence our perception of that time – they wrote a lot about themselves, for a start – but it’s true that pure intellectualism, in all fields, exists now mostly in academia, which in some ways functions like a protected nature reserve for ideas. But it’s also true that the discussion of these ideas has been transformed, like so much else in life, by the internet, and in particular the blogosphere.
In the decade or so since the blogosphere began to take shape, a huge number of academics started blogging, starting conversations and swapping ideas and developing a platform where the currency of ideas is readily accessible to everybody.”
From my piece on the academic blogosphere, featuring interviews with Henry Farrell, Mary Beard, Brian Lucey, Karl Whelan and Ferdinand von Prondzynski, which can be read here.