Here’s the
link. No, the title of this post does not refer to Al Gore. I actually wish we
had more wannabe intellectuals like him in the political class.
So, how many on FP’s list are you familiar
with? If you ask me, this is a very fun game. Below the fold, (1) a list of all
those I could carry on a conversation with based on things I’ve read by them;
(2) a list of those I’ve spoken with in person or corresponded with; (3)
authors any self-respecting intellectual must read if she hasn’t already:
(1) Amartya
Sen, Umberto Eco, Samuel Huntington, Anne Applebaum, Martha Nussbaum, Peter
Singer, Niall Ferguson, Robert Kagan, Amos Oz, Thomas Friedman, Gary Kasparov,
David Petraeus, Pope Benedict, Francis Fukuyama, Lawrence Summers, Richard
Posner, Charles Taylor, Howard Gardner, Samantha Power, Mario Varga Llosa, Noam
Chomsky, Paul Krugman, Christopher Hitchens, Slavoy Zizek, Al Gore, Richard
Dawkins, Michael Walzer, Gianni Riotta, E. O. Wilson, Bernard Lewis, Jürgen
Habermas, Bjorn Lomborg, Salman Rushdie, Vaclav Havel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Jeffrey
Sachs, Fareed Zakaria, Muhammad Yunus
(2) Michael
Walzer, Gianni Riotta
(3) I feel
this most strongly about Martha Nussbaum, Niall Ferguson, Charles Taylor, and
Bjorn Lomborg
I was hard on myself, by the way. I recognize
the names of many others, but don’t know enough about their thought to say more
than, e.g., “Oh, you’re a linguist, aren’t you?” I was depressed when I
realized that I seem to be better read in newspaper columnists and political
scientists than true scientists, philosophers, and novelists. Note to self:
change your reading habits.
I can think of many more names I would want
to add to the list: Walter Russell Mead, David Brooks, Daniel Drezner; not to
mention Mary Douglas and Jaroslav Pelikan if they hadn’t just died – that’s just
for starters, but I admit, the names that come most readily to mind are often
ones who have passed from the scene recently.
Let’s see, who might I tag among biblical
bloggers? I tag Duane Smith, Doug Chaplin, James McGrath, Alan
Lenzi, and Jeremy Pierce. Let’s
see their three lists. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the greatest
pseudo-intellectual of them all?
Ha! another trackback fails to work.
Posted by: Doug Chaplin | April 27, 2008 at 02:35 PM
Your main point about the list, Doug, is appropriate, though of course this is a FP (=Foreign Policy) list.
Political scientist Dan Drezner also complained about the preponderance of his kind on the list. He said: if so many of the top intellectuals in the world are political scientists, we are done for. Hard to disagree with that.
Martha Nussbaum in the list is a sort of stand-in for MacIntyre. If you haven’t read her, you will be glad you did if one day you choose to. I don’t agree at all with your take on Chomsky. Is it really true that Dawkins is no good in his field? I’ve heard rumors to that effect, but hesitate to believe it.
Posted by: JohnFH | April 27, 2008 at 03:24 PM
Thanks for this (I think). I was easy on myself, lest I look bad! :)
Posted by: James McGrath | April 28, 2008 at 02:21 PM
Thanks, James, for some great book recommendations.
Posted by: JohnFH | April 28, 2008 at 03:51 PM
How can you say Nussbaum is a stand in for MacIntyre?!?!
Posted by: Sam Norton | April 30, 2008 at 12:21 PM
I can't get away with anything, can I, Sam?
I'm impressed that/if you are familiar with both. What they have in common is a reappropriation of the classical tradition of moral philosophy. Nussbaum, to be sure, sticks with the Greeks. MacIntyre takes in the tradition of the Schools, and has a theological approach. I would consider Nussbaum, Hauerwas, and MacIntyre, among others, examples of a larger trend in which Aristotle is being reclaimed.
Now if Kurk Gayle reads this comment, I will be clobbered from another direction.
Posted by: JohnFH | April 30, 2008 at 01:13 PM
Nussbaum and MacIntyre are two of my intellectual heroes :o) in particular Fragility of Goodness had a major impact on my thinking. Haven't read much else of hers, only Upheavals of Thought, which was interesting but ultimately a little disappointing. At some point I'll get stuck in a bit more to her legal stuff. I guess I'm basically Aristotelean in my outlook, especially understood in the way she outlines in FofG.
BTW I agree with Doug about Dawkins.
Posted by: Sam Norton | May 01, 2008 at 05:37 AM
BTW 2 I've picked up the meme: http://elizaphanian.blogspot.com/2008/05/top-100-intellectuals.html>here.
Posted by: Sam Norton | May 01, 2008 at 06:01 AM
Thanks, Sam, for picking up on this meme. You offer some interesting names. I am immensely grateful to Jacques Ellul for teaching me early on that some people are called to be intellectuals, and within that category, Christian intellectuals.
Christianity suffers from a lack of widely-read leaders. It's the same in academia generally, with people priding themselves in knowing nothing outside of their specialization. What terrible nonsense.
Posted by: JohnFH | May 01, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Jacques Ellul is another of the 'got a book on the shelf but haven't read it yet' people... (Propaganda)
Posted by: Sam Norton | May 02, 2008 at 04:40 AM
Hi John. It's been a long summer; sorry to have missed your comment here earlier. Now, if you'd claimed Larry Summers in your category 3, then I may have taken a swing. (I think everyone must read, however they will, Aristotle. We can fight later, if we must.)
Posted by: J. K. Gayle | August 15, 2008 at 01:01 PM
Kurk,
Great to have you back. Given that Aristotle falls within the purview of your dissertation, he must seem all too alive and well to you, no less than Larry Summers.
Posted by: JohnFH | August 15, 2008 at 02:43 PM