Public Intellectuals and Their Discontents From Europe to Iran
This book addresses the ways in which the figure of the intellectuals and their relationship to the public has been theorized through the conceptualizations of bureaucracy, democracy, and communism as universal processes from the 19th century to the prese
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Public Intellectuals and Their Discontents
Yadullah Shahibzadeh
Public Intellectuals and Their Discontents From Europe to Iran
Yadullah Shahibzadeh Oslo, Norway
ISBN 978-3-030-56587-9 ISBN 978-3-030-56588-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56588-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Roya and Omid
Preface
In response to Marx’s statement that “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force,”1 Foucault claimed that ideas do not rule the world. They rather prevent the world from being “passively ruled by its rulers or by those who want to teach them [the ruled] what to think once and for all.”2 This is because, as the Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine tells us at the end of his Destiny (1997), “ideas have wings, no one can stop their flight.” None of these statements imply that speaking truth to power is the task of the intellectuals in general or “true intellectuals” in particular. Usually, the phrase is uttered by the intellectuals who exercise a certain degree of power and well connected to the people who exercise a higher degree of power. Since the 1960s, the intellectuals have been telling us that power is not concentrated in the state alone. They have reminded us that we cannot find power in the office of the heads of the states or their institutions because power is everywhere, in the state and public institutions, as well as in the public and academic discourses. The question i
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