Role of Intellectual in Society

Intellectual is a person who uses his intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a professional capacity or for personal reasons. It also means of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind. There are many types of Intellectuals, some of them are anti-academic while some are a part of universities. Some are involved in arts, politics, journalism and education. Some are specialized experts and professionals and some are independent. They acquire a variety of roles as such. The emergence of Intellectuals can be traced back to 'The Dreyfus Affair' in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Rather, this period is notable for the full emergence of the intellectual in public life. Especially with the roles of Émile Zola, Octave Mirbeau and Anatole France, in speaking directly on the matter. The term Intellectual became better known from that time. The use of the term as a noun in French has been attributed to Georges Clemenceau in 1898.

Role of Intellectual in Society

The role of intellectuals in any society is indeed one of the elements crucial to its development. Intellectuals. It can be gauged from a historical perspective. The French Revolution's was instigated by people whom we would today classify as intellectuals, Lenin and most of his comrades were intellectuals. Intellectuals assisted the spread of ideological messages in the Middle East by becoming the icons of discontented, disillusioned and frustrated generations anxious for change and peace. Political parties and clergy used the intellectuals to extend their organizational power and political control. The way to assess historically, the impact of intellectuals on any given society depends on the society in which they are operating: where civil society is weak, where nonconformity is looked down upon, where tolerance and pluralism are lacking, intellectuals will find it difficult to steer society toward a more open political and moral climate. Iranian society where Islam is only one of the building blocks of national identity appears to offer many more options for critical intellectuals to legitimise elements for change and transformation. Whilst it is not the same case in many Arab societies, where Islam is, in one way or another is linked to the heritage of Arabism and true critical thinking is stunted.

Intellectual dedicates himself to performing a particular activity within the society whose end is to bring about the ennoblement of humankind by means of the advance of culture. It is the duty of a scholar to adopt a dispassionate, objective approach to discovering the truth, knowledge that derives from purely rational principles, add their voices to the public debates for peace and safe future. Intellectuals play an important role in the formation and evolution of civil society. Intellectuals have also been this basis of ideologies like democratization, totalitarian rule, dictatorship, western liberalism, constitutionalism, nationalism, fascism. Intellectuals are the most important sociological actors of modernity. Their struggle for critical rationality and civil liberties goes hand in hand with their critique and refusal of instrumental rationality and spirit of domination. Their superior intellectual talents and training in the techniques of positive inquiry enabled them to transcend the narrow conceptions of local viewpoints and rationalize the process of policy formation. In a position of leadership, they governed on the basis of faultless conclusions, solving problems of previous generations and establishing superior forms of societal organization. They also observed that while the course of modern society had indeed grown to become more rational in its organization, this change did not nurture a greater freedom of the individual but contributed to a rising level of bureaucratic control. A consequence of this trend was a growing irrationality in the social world, where human emotions and pre-modern habits of thought remained prevalent. Many of the beliefs and superstitions of the feudal era continued to thrive in industrial society and these shaped the course of political and economic development in the West.

The Role of Intellectual as a Researcher

Researchers pursue an objective analysis and approach an investigation of their subject matter. Intellectuals seek to develop an awareness of an assumption and whilst doing so they acquire the role of Researcher. They indulge in social scientific research. They apply the principles of science and past traditions in developing their own informed perspectives. They also found that social scientific work can foster innovative analyses of the social world. These researchers organized their investigations on the basis of their own curiosities and scholarly interests, whilst doing so they have revealed some facts which have would have been missed if they had not researched. Their personal insights in the social world have assisted research in a big way. The rapid changes of the modern order require an ongoing qualitatively unique assessments. Older formulations can become static and lose their ability to explain newer developments. The role of the intellectual in this context is to formulate creative interpretations of the world in relation to the trends leading up to the present. Ideas which do not conform to the mainstream of social thought can contribute to the thinking of others interested in pursuing alternative viewpoints. Contemporary social research, whether of a political or scientific variety, may ultimately have far-reaching consequences and intellectuals operating within the framework of these two sets of ethics can be influential in shaping the future directions of the modern social order.

The Role of Intellectual as a Political Advisor

Intellectual involvement is a crucial component of a political leadership. Intellectuals acting in the official capacity of advising political leaders offer analyses to political leaders who then make decisions on the basis of their own convictions and sense of responsibility. Intellectuals play an important role in expanding the knowledge upon which decisions can be made. They utilise their knowledge in the political arena which further gets translated into practical policy options. Having a hand in both research and in politics, the political intellectual can provide the crucial link between social scientific inquiry and policy-making. Their task is to reveal the larger problems and to suggest it's remedied. Since the policies are to be made for the public, Intellectual provide a valuable insight into the ways people’s lives will be changed by the actions being proposed. The advisor’s responsibility is also to draw the attention of leaders to the long-term consequences of the actions being considered and impart his suggestions. In the absence of Political Intellectuals, policy formation would continue to fall into the hands of bureaucratically oriented managers.

The Role of Intellectual as an Educator

In industrial-technological society, they influence public opinion and provide assessments of the social world which are enlightening. Their objective as educators is to offer interpretations of the contemporary world that enhances the capacity of poorly informed individuals to participate in matters in an enlightened manner. Another goal of such Intellectual is to teach their disciples to think critically in the classroom and at the level of scholarly interaction. Their education offers to strengthen the moral fibre of the masses and to ground the morality of modernity in the findings of the positive inquiry. They examine the different morals of a given culture, assess them, and develop critiques of them and whilst doing so they inspire a systematic inquiry.