Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-4hvwz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T09:19:45.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public Opinion and the Intellectuals*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Francis G. Wilson
Francis G. Wilson
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A study of the relation of intellectuals to public opinion suggests the outlines of a sociology of the intellectuals as a functioning social group. The libertas philosophandi has long been asserted by the educated elite, and in pre-democratic days the theoretical relation to public opinion was quite clear. Philosophers have had the civil liberty to criticize government, but the same right was not generously extended to the vulgar conscience, or the common men who composed the “open public.” Actually, the rise of democracy has not really clarified the issue, though the mass or Gnostic movements of modern times have asserted the right to judge the government, the intellectuals, and any other group that might stand in the way of political victory. The democratic intellectual can hardly say that the revolting mass does not have the right to judge him, but he can and does say that public opinion must be reformed, purified, educated, or directed by the latest in scientific hypothesis. More especially, however, the modern selfconscious intellectuals have directed their fire against other groups or elites who have a following and who in fact provide a pluralistic leadership of public opinion.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 1954 , pp. 321 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1954

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Sutton, Robert B., “The Phrase Libertas Philosophandi,” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 14, pp. 310–16 (April, 1953)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 See, for example, y Gasset, José Ortega, The Revolt of the Masses, trans. from the Spanish (New York, 1932)Google Scholar. Or, in contrast, Benda, Julien, The Treason of the Intellectuals [La Trahison des Clercs], trans. Aldington, Richard (New York, 1928)Google Scholar.

3 Brinton, Crane, “Something Went Wrong: Three Views of the Heritage of the Early Nineteenth Century,” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 14, pp. 457–62 (June, 1953)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, deals with this issue by being sharply critical of Peter Viereck, who had offered criticism of the contemporary intellectuals.

4 See Grimmond, J., “The Principles of Liberalism,” The Political Quarterly, Vol. 14, pp. 236–42 (July-Sept., 1953)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Lord Acton in the nineteenth century was interested in counting the number of systems of thought which might be used to explain political movements in his time. Since Acton was attempting to reconcile British liberalism with his own religious ideas, he tended to blunt the conflict between liberalism as a secular system of thought and Christianity. See Fasnacht, G. E., Acton's Political Philosophy (New York, 1953), pp. 140–41Google Scholar.

6 See Mackinnon, William A., On the Rise, Progress and Present State of Public Opinion in Great Britain and Other Parts of the World, 2d ed. (London, 1828)Google Scholar.

7 See Confluence, Vol. 2, pp. 69–114 (March, 1953)Google Scholar, for various articles on this problem.

8 “What is Public Opinion?,” The Political Quarterly, Vol. 11, pp. 374–83 (Oct.-Dec., 1940)Google Scholar.

9 Cf. Voegelin, Eric, The New Science of Politics (Chicago, 1952)Google Scholar.

10 In his Public Opinion (New York, 1922)Google Scholar.

11 See Kirk, Russell, The Conservative Mind (Chicago, 1953)Google Scholar; Viereck, Peter, Conservatism Revisited (New York, 1949)Google Scholar.

12 Cf. Max Lerner's introduction to the Modern Library edition of Machiavelli's, The Prince and The Discourses (New York, 1940)Google Scholar.

13 Saint-German's, ChristopherThe Doctor and Student in 1518Google Scholar may be regarded as a statement of the older position of the supremacy of the higher law, but the Student in the dialogues expresses many of the ideas of absolutism. See Maravall, José Antonio, “La Formación de la Conciencia Estamental en los Letrados,” Revista de Estudios Políticos, No. 70, pp. 53–81 (July-Aug., 1953)Google Scholar.

14 See McCoy, C. N. R., “The Turning Point in Political Philosophy,” this Review, Vol. 44, pp. 678–88 (Sept., 1950)Google Scholar.

15 Bodin, Jean, Method for the Easy Comprehension of History, trans. Beatrice Reynolds (New York, 1945)Google Scholar, passim.

16 Modern Library edition (New York, 1943), p. 327.

17 Contemporary American philosophy, especially Pragmatism and Positivism, may illustrate this point. There is much valuable material on this issue in Schneider, H. W., A History of American Philosophy (New York, 1946)Google Scholar, Ch. 39.

18 See Farrington, Benjamin, Science and Politics in the Ancient World (New York, 1939)Google Scholar; Winspear, Alban D., The Genesis of Plato's Thought (New York, 1940)Google Scholar.

19 See Pribram, Karl, Conflicting Patterns of Thought (Washington, 1949)Google Scholar.

20 See Ribner, Irving, “Sir Philip Sidney on Civil Insurrection,” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 13, pp. 257–65 (April, 1952)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 See Voegelin, Eric, “More's Utopia,” Österreichische Zeitschrift für Öffentliches Recht, Band IIIGoogle Scholar, Heft 4.

22 Religio Medici, Modern Library edition (New York, 1943), p. 344Google Scholar.

23 The Essays of Francis Bacon, ed. Scott, M. A. (New York, 1908), LXXXGoogle Scholar.

24 Shouse, J. B., “David Hume and William James: A Comparison,” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 13, pp. 514–27 (Oct., 1952)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 See Mornet, Daniel, Les Origines Intellectuelles de la Révolution Française (Paris, 1933)Google Scholar, passim.

Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.