Notes on Baran’s “The Commitment of the IntellectualR= 21;

PHIL3395: Marx

Novy SP09

Notes for Baran’s “The Commitment of the Intellectual,” et al.

The wr= iter naturally must make money in order to live and write, but he should not u= nder any circumstances live and write in order to make money…The writer = by no means looks on his work as a means. It is an end in itself and so litt= le a means in the eyes of himself and of others tha= t if necessary he sacrifices his existence to the existence of his work…= The first condition of freedom of the press is that it is not a business activity.

Rheini= sche Zeitung (5/19/1842)

An Intellect Worker

A world where one tends his own garden contributes most to the flourishing = of the gardens of all

Alienation from one’s self

“Contracts out”

Provides tools to society but refuses to control the use of = these tools

&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; i. &= nbsp; agnostic regarding ends nonetheless committed= to means

This by default supports status quo

An Intellectual

In fact, the fetishization of values, ethical judgments and the like, the identification of the social, economi= c, psychic causes of their emergence, change and disappearance, as well as t= he uncovering of the specific interests which they serve at any particular t= ime, represent the greatest single contribution that an intellectual can make = to the cause of human advancement

Systematically seek to relate one’s specific area to ot= her aspects of human existence

Principle: the truth is in the whole

Seek interconnectedness rather than compartmentalization

Refusal to accept datum or to treat as immune from analysis,= any single part of the whole

Values and ethical judgments are not beyond scientific scruti= ny

But wait: Logic and science cannot possibly deduce absolute g= ood or absolute bad for humanity!

False target: All answers are historically conditioned<= /o:p>

“Shooting the arrow at the target” vs. “Shooting without a target”

Society’s elections do not come about by miracles

Insistence on the principle that the quest for human advancement requires no scientific or logical justification, constitutes what might be called the axiomatic foundation without the acceptance of which an indivi= dual can neither consider himself nor be thought of as an intellectual

Against “= ethical neutralists”

“A meaningful discussion of human affairs can only be conducted with humans; one wastes ones time talking to beast about matters related to people”

Argument, disagreement are necessary and unavoidable

Obligations of the intellectual

Ruthless criticism of everything that exists, ruthless in the sense that the criticism will not shrink either from its own conclusions or from conflict with the powers that be

– Marx’s “Letter to Ruge”

To speak the truth

To be a social critic

What constitutes truth? What is being told? What is being withheld

Facts do not exist apart from context – with the conte= xt, truth matters

Must oppose agnosticism, obscurantism, and inhumanity