The responsibility of intellectuals
Wednesday,
June 19, 2019
7:10
PM
Types of intellectuals: Dissidents and
Conformists is one way of classification; Anarchist and technocratic/policy-oriented intellectuals is the other
one.
The responsibility: After a thorough discussion
on the various examples of the righteousness of dissidents and evil character of
conformists, particularly in terms of American foreign policy, Chomsky ended
the chapter as:
As for the responsibility of intellectuals, there doesn’t seem to me to be much to say
beyond some simple truths: intellectuals are typically privileged; privilege
yields opportunity and opportunity confers responsibilities. An individual
then has choices.
So,
as it seems, he has kept both options open for the method adopted.
