The Role of the Intellectual in Society

<p><strong>Q: What is the role of the intellectual in society?</strong></p> <p>The intellectual who seeks applause has already failed. His only duty is to the truth — and truth rarely arrives dressed in what the crowd wishes to hear.</p> <br/> <p><strong>Q: But surely the intellectual must communicate, must reach people?</strong></p> <p>Yes. But there is a difference between clarity and flattery. You can say difficult things clearly. You can tell uncomfortable truths without being gratuitously harsh. The failure is when you soften the truth to the point where it is no longer the truth — when you say what will be received well rather than what needs to be said.</p> <br/> <p><strong>Q: Does the intellectual have a specific obligation to his own society and tradition?</strong></p> <p>He has an obligation to the truth, and the truth is not the same in every context. What a society most needs to hear is often what it least wants to hear. The intellectual who understands his tradition deeply enough will know what that is. The one who does not know his tradition deeply enough will mistake his own prejudices for universal insights.</p> <br/> <p><strong>Q: You have been called a conservative. Does that label bother you?</strong></p> <p>Labels are for those who need shortcuts. My position is simply this: I do not assume that what is new is better, or that what is old is worse. I try to see what is actually true. Sometimes the old has it right. Sometimes the new does. The only principle I hold consistently is: follow the truth, wherever it leads, whatever it costs.</p>