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PARTISAN REVIEW
in this way is more than a right: it is a duty imposed by the very place the
intellectual occupies in a democratic society.
This role of the critical intellectual is hardly a new one, since it was in–
carnated by the first intellectual celebrated in the Western tradition: Socrates.
If one is to believe the
Apology
of his disciple Plato, Socrates managed to
avoid two temptations. On the one side, he did not participate directly in his
city's government and refused all political offices offered him, even when
imposed. On the other side, he did not disengage himself from the city's af–
fairs to withdraw
to
a purely contemplative life. "\ cannot sit still," he said,
"and even if they had forbidden it I would have continued to philosophize"–
which for him did not mean commenting on past philosophies, but criticizing
the public life around him and offering alternatives. It is precisely because
Socrates never wanted
to
renounce the possibility of criticizing and fighting
for justice that he refused
to
enter active public life. He knew that "if I had, I
would already be dead," since conflict with other political men would have
been inevitable and merciless. His criticisms and combativeness were not
unbounded, though, which is why Socrates refused to flee even when unjustly
condemned, preferring instead
to
submit himselfto tlle laws of his city.
Neither partaking of power nor disengaging himself from public life,
Socrates found a curious image to describe his role. He claimed:
God has specially appointed me
to
this city, as though it were a large
thoroughbred horse which because of its great size is inclined to be
lazy and needs the stimulation of a gadfly. it seems to me that God has
attached me to this city to perform that function, and all day long I
never cease to settle here, there, everywhere, rousing, persuading,
reproving everyone of you.
To play the gadfly in society, or even the prod: perhaps this is the
proper role of the modern intellectual. Assuming, of course, that he is pre–
pared
to
suffer the fate of Socrates.
Translated from the French
by
Mark Lilla
