Anxious Intellects

Anxious Intellects
Author :
Publisher : Duke University Press
Total Pages : 233
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780822381396
ISBN-13 : 0822381397
Rating : 4/5 (397 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Anxious Intellects by : John Michael

Download or read book Anxious Intellects written by John Michael and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2000-04-24 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intellectuals occupy a paradoxical position in contemporary American culture as they struggle both to maintain their critical independence and to connect to the larger society. In Anxious Intellects John Michael discusses how critics from the right and the left have conceived of the intellectual’s role in a pluralized society, weighing intellectual authority against public democracy, universal against particularistic standards, and criticism against the respect of popular movements. Michael asserts that these Enlightenment-born issues, although not “resolvable,” are the very grounds from which real intellectual work must proceed. As part of his investigation of intellectuals’ self-conceptions and their roles in society, Michael concentrates on several well-known contemporary African American intellectuals, including Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West. To illuminate public debates over pedagogy and the role of university, he turns to the work of Todd Gitlin, Michael Bérubé, and Allan Bloom. Stanley Fish’s pragmatic tome, Doing What Comes Naturally, along with a juxtaposition of Fredric Jameson and Samuel Huntington’s work, proves fertile ground for Michael’s argument that democratic politics without intellectuals is not possible. In the second half of Anxious Intellects, Michael relies on three popular conceptions of the intellectual—as critic, scientist, and professional—to discuss the work of scholars Constance Penley, Henry Jenkins, the celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking, and others, insisting that ambivalence, anxiety, projection, identification, hybridity, and various forms of psychosocial complexity constitute the real meaning of Enlightenment intellectuality. As a new and refreshing contribution to the recently emergent culture and science wars, Michael’s take on contemporary intellectuals and their place in society will enliven and redirect these ongoing debates.

Anxious Intellects Related Books

Anxious Intellects
Language: en
Pages: 233
Authors: John Michael
Categories: Education
Type: BOOK - Published: 2000-04-24 - Publisher: Duke University Press

GET EBOOK

Intellectuals occupy a paradoxical position in contemporary American culture as they struggle both to maintain their critical independence and to connect to the
Anxious Intellects
Language: en
Pages: 236
Authors: John Michael
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2000-04-24 - Publisher: Duke University Press

GET EBOOK

DIVA critical examination of the complex role of intellectuals in contemporary society, including the often contradictory definitions of such roles advocated by
Public Intellectuals and the Common Good
Language: en
Pages: 185
Authors: Todd C. Ream
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-01-26 - Publisher: InterVarsity Press

GET EBOOK

In the midst of a divisive culture, public intellectuals speaking from an evangelical perspective have a critical role to play—within the church and beyond. R
Intellectuals in Action
Language: en
Pages: 324
Authors: Kevin Mattson
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-08-09 - Publisher: Penn State Press

GET EBOOK

Born in 1966‚ a generation removed from the counterculture‚ Kevin Mattson came of political age in the conservative Reagan era. In an effort to understand c
Intellectuals and Civil Society in the Middle East
Language: en
Pages: 224
Authors: Mohammed A. Bamyeh
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-07-10 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

GET EBOOK

What is the nature of intellectual activity in the Middle East, and what is its role in politics and society? While much scholarly attention has been given to t