Question

Write an essay about - Intellectuals and the Society

Answer 1

role of intellectuals

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An intellectual is a person who relies on intellect rather than on emotions or feelings. His faculty of thinking is of a very high order. He seeks truth and knowledge in its entirety. He has a sharp intellect and a logical approach. He is rational to the core. He throws up new ideas, formulates theories and evolves principles. He has great foresight. He is a precursor of revolutionary movements in the world. He can be called the brain of the society.

Socrates, a Greek philosopher, preached the principle that knowledge is virtue and virtue is knowledge. He wanted that man should seek objective knowledge which is permanent. Seeking of knowledge should be an end in itself and not a means for any other end. Plato, another Greek philosopher, gave to the Greek people the idea of the philosopher-king’s rule. He favoured a Government run by an aristocracy of intellectual and virtuous men. He decried democracy as mobocracy.

The impression that intellectuals are only Utopian thinkers is wrong. Great intellectuals always worked for the welfare of the people. When necessary, they sacrificed their lives for a cause which was dear to them. They never bowed before any tyranny or injustice. They preferred to face persecution instead of yielding to the dictates of the rulers. They always spoke the truth.