Intellectuals in Power (The Genealogy of Critical Humanism)

Author: Paul Bowles (USA), translated by Xiao Sha
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The Intellectuals in Power offers a critical interpretation of several of the most prominent Western theorists—Nietzsche, Foucault, Said, Althusser, and others—examining their positions and constructive roles within the discourse system of critical humanism. It elucidates the complex relationship between intellectuals and power, institutions, discourse, and more. The Intellectuals in Power provides a critical interpretation of several of the most prominent Western theorists—Nietzsche, Foucault, Said, Althusser, and others—examining their positions and constructive roles within the discourse system of critical humanism. It elucidates the complex relationship between intellectuals and power, institutions, discourse, and more. This book aims to compile an analytical report, on one hand, to demonstrate the immense potential of rigorous humanistic criticism, and on the other, to clarify the boundaries of this potential, thereby preserving the ideal of participatory democracy. The book points out that in the hands of these great humanists—Erich Fromm, Marshall Hochsensohn, and Edward Said—critical humanism achieved two far-reaching goals: First, it revealed the unequal distribution of power, and, as Said put it, it compelled intellectuals to speak the truth to power; second, and more importantly, it exposed how critical humanism ultimately reached its limits, thereby revealing the anti-democratic foundation of the movement rooted in the state, and how intellectuals were embedded in power in a particular way. The book's title often invites misinterpretation from unfriendly critics, who assume it refers to "powerful intellectuals"; in fact, it is a premise set by this post-Foucauldian work—that power cannot be understood merely by placing it in a grammatical possessive structure. Intellectuals are situated "within" power, meaning they are immersed at the nodes of power and discourse systems, and they themselves are these nodes. The effects of these nodes often operate beyond their consciousness and frequently run counter to the goals they profess.