What You'll Learn:
Intellectuals have become an increasingly formative force in our world over the past several centuries. Some thinkers have retained cult-like followings even years after their deaths. But what were these famous intellectuals, self-proclaimed friends of humanity, actually like? Was their treatment of those closest to them as lofty and magnanimous as the sentiments they expressed in writing?
Key Insights:
- Several centuries ago, a secular priesthood of intellectuals began to replace the traditionally religious elite.
- Rousseau was the first intellectual to systematically deride and exploit the rich through manipulative ingratitude.
- No one has had more of an impact on modern history than Karl Marx.
- Tolstoy found the peasants in his novels to be far more pliable and cooperative than the serfs on his own estate.
- Relying on his verbal grandeloquence, Sartre managed to emotionally subdue and manipulate the twentieth century’s most famous feminist.
- Detachment from the real world has led to an extremism among intellectuals that continues to harm society and politics.
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