Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the greatest pseudo-intellectual of them all? A Classy List of the Top 100 Intellectuals in the World

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?

Comments

[Doug Chaplin]

Ha! another trackback fails to work.

[JohnFH]

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.

[James McGrath]

Thanks for this (I think). I was easy on myself, lest I look bad! :)

[JohnFH]

Thanks, James, for some great book recommendations.

[Sam Norton]

How can you say Nussbaum is a stand in for MacIntyre?!?!

[JohnFH]

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.

[Sam Norton]

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.

[Sam Norton]

BTW 2 I've picked up the meme: http://elizaphanian.blogspot.com/2008/05/top-100-intellectuals.html>here.

[JohnFH]

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.

[Sam Norton]

Jacques Ellul is another of the 'got a book on the shelf but haven't read it yet' people... (Propaganda)

[J. K. Gayle]

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.)

[JohnFH]

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.