Day 4 of #60DayChallenge

What is an "intellectual?" In his book, "Intellectuals," Paul Johnson gives a concise definition: "Men [who] arose to assert that they could diagnose the ills of society and cure them with their own unaided intellects."
Moreover, they viewed all of

Society's institutions and organizations as fundamentally wrong and repressive. What's the cure? "Hearken to the intellectuals!" they cried. For the only persons "right" in society are the intellectuals, so we must heed their advice to best address every social, moral, political,

And economic injustice. Consequently, not to agree with and adhere to the prescriptive measures of the intellectuals is to not take these societal ills seriously.

Johnson presents a very wise and practical thesis for his book: we should see these same intellectuals, those

Heralding the charge for a new moral foundation, living up to these moral mandates in their personal lives. Are they practicing what they preach to others?

Johnson's point in this book is to shed light on the lives of the leading intellectuals in modern time, posing the same

Questions which led Paul to give his apostolic critique of the moralizers in his own time: "thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself also?" (Romans 2:21).

We might expect to see Rousseau's ideology of the education of children by the State best exemplified in his

Relationship with his own children (if he even knew their names). How was a poetic genius like Percy Shelley, who spoke passionately about truth and virtue, so self-deluded to not acknowledge the lives of his closest friends he had wrecked through his lies and manipulations?

Paul Johnson's answer is poignant: these intellectuals loved humanity, yet hated men. These lovers of mankind were most unkind to men.
The same light they blazed for the world often torched those who knew them dearest.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. Great read!

Rating: 10/10