Intellect and Public Life

Essays on the Social History of Academic Intellectuals in the United States

Häftad, Engelska, 1997

AvThomas Bender,New York University) Bender, Thomas (Professor Emeritus

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Periodic "crises" in our academic culture remind us that the organization of our intellectual life is a product of history-neither fixed by the logic of social development nor inherent in the nature of knowledge itself. At a time of much unease in academia and among the general public about the relation of intellect to public life, Thomas Bender explores both the nineteenth-century origins and the twentieth-century configurations of academic intellect in the United States. Intellect and Public Life pays special attention to the changing relationship of academic to urban culture. Examining the historical tensions faced by intellectuals who aspired to be at once academics and citizens, Bender traces the growing commitment of intellectuals to professional expertise and autonomy. He finds, as well, a historical pattern of academic withdrawal from the public discussion of matters of general concern. Yet the volume concludes on a hopeful note.With the demise of the classical republican notion of the public, Bender contends, there has emerged a more pluralistic notion of the public that-combined with the revival of interest in pragmatic theories of truth-may offer the possibility of a richer collaboration of democracy and intellect.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum1997-11-26
Mått152 x 229 x 12 mm
Vikt283 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor200
FörlagJohns Hopkins University Press
ISBN9780801857843

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PrefaceAcknowledgments Part I: Nineteenth-Century Origins of Academic CultureChapter 1. The Cultures of Intellectual Life: The City and the ProfessionsChapter 2. Science and the Culture of American CommunitiesChapter 3. The Erosion of Public Culture: Cities, Discourses, and Professional DisciplinesPart II: Twentieth-Century PatternsChapter 4. E.R.A. Seligman and the Vocation of Social ScienceChapter 5. The Emergence of the New York Intellectuals: Modernism, Cosmopolitanism, and NationalismChapter 6. The Historian and Public Life: Charles A. Beard and the CityChapter 7. Lionel Trilling and American CulturePart III: Conclusions and ReconsiderationsChapter 8. Academic Knowledge and Political Democracy in the Age of the University EpilogueNotesIndex

Thomas Bender is our foremost cartographer of the intellect, the Mercator of the American mind. New York History A finely wrought picture of academic life before disciplinary professionalization. -- Daniel T. Rogers History of Education Quarterly In this excellent collection... Bender's essays suggest an ingenious account, both intellectual and spatial, of the growth of professional society. -- Peter Scott Times Higher Education Supplement The topic is a fascinating one, which is studied here with stimulating brevity and perception. -- Rosemary Park Change Bender's positive, generous, civil voice injects a soothing dose of optimism into current academic debates, and his invocation of 'public culture' delivers a needed antidote to the spurious concept that shares the same initial consonants. -- Mary Ryan, American Quarterly [A] sparkling and insightful volume. Canadian Review of American Studies