Overview
Examines the disappearance of the public intellectual in contemporary times
Explains the danger of today’s intellectual vacuum
Argues for the rejuvenation of humanist values and the intellectual tradition
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Table of contents (4 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book reveals the sense in which our postmodern societies are characterized by the obscene absence of the intellectual. The modern intellectual--who had once been associated with humanism and enlightenment—has in our day been replaced by media stars, talking heads, and technical experts. At issue is the ongoing crisis of democracy, under the aegis of the société du spectacle and its vast networks of politically-induced idiocy, industrially-produced biocide, and militarily-provoked genocide. Spectacle fills the resulting moral and intellectual vacuum with electronic technologies of control, punishment, and destruction. This postmodern tyranny reduces intelligence to mechanistic, positivist, and grammatological models of inquiry, while increasing the segmentation, fragmentation, and dissolution of human existence. The apotheosis of the spectacle explains the intellectual void that lies at the heart of our postmodern decadence; it also accounts for the need to recuperate the humanist values of enlightenment promoted by the modern intellectual tradition.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Christopher Britt is Professor of Spanish at The George Washington University, USA.
Eduardo Subirats is Professor of Spanish at New York University, USA.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Intellectuals in the Society of Spectacle
Authors: Christopher Britt, Eduardo Subirats
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73106-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-73105-2Published: 25 May 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-73108-3Published: 26 May 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-73106-9Published: 24 May 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 162
Topics: History of Philosophy, History, general, Literature, general