First, we talked about the idea of Culture of Critical Discourse (CCD) — using reason and rationality to get people to agree with one’s idea because it is sound, instead of using one’s authority or power to force people into believing. But, it is also weird to me, as I feel that there are some intellectuals, like the example Prof. Riley gave on Sartre, that are not really following the culture of critical discourse. For natural scientists, as claims must be backed with empirical evidence, there is little room for debate if the empirical evidence directly contradicts one’s claim. Prof. Riley then made it clear that people like poets, social activists, or professors can also be classified as intellectuals. Although it is defined that intellectuals are people that practice culture of critical discourse, I feel that in practice, sometimes it is not true. Often times, people are not using reason and rationality.
We then analyzed intellectuals in relation to power. While often perceived only interested in seeking the truth, intellectuals — as a social group — are just like any other social groups; they would seek to gain power and rise in the social hierarchy. I proposed the claim that there are many intellectuals, especially natural scientists, I would say are not trying to gain power. They are not trying to become the more powerful class and rule others. For example, I know many math professors that do research in their field because they simply love the beauty in whatever subject they are researching. Prof. Riley’s response to this was that: although these intellectuals are not trying to overpower other people in the society, they almost all hope to gain power in their own field – like through publishing papers or making groundbreaking discoveries.
In the reading, we also saw that intellectuals believe that they should “run” the society as they know best about things. It sounds sound, but in reality is flawed. Intellectuals are still human beings that could make mistakes just like everyone else. The fact that they actively try to practice the CCD does not mean that they are constantly doing that all the time. They might have different social roles and do different things for those responsibilities. They could also make mistakes at times. So we have a paradox or a dichotomy. Intellectuals claim to, or at least hope to, practice CCD, yet I feel that it is against our human nature. We are not purely rational beings.
Sacredness in the intellectuals. Just like religions, intellectuals have sacred practices and sacred artifacts as well. To them, the pursuit of the truth is their sacred practice; famous intellectuals are seen as sacred figures and have certain reverence and power among the intellectuals or even the general public.
I feel that religion is more like a general structure that could be applied to many other aspects of the social world. Though, typically, religion refers to Christianity, Catholicism, Muslim, and etc, but there are also just so many things in life that people just claim that they “believe it” yet are unable to back it up with any real world evidence.