Intellect and Public Life: Essays on the Social History of Academic Intellectuals in the United States - Brossura

Bender, Thomas

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0801857848 ISBN 13: 9780801857843

Casa editrice: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr, 1997

Riassunto

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.

Su questo libro

Recensione

"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)

Descrizione del libro

Thomas Bender explores both the nineteenth-century origins and the twentieth-century configurations of academic intellect in the United States.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0801857848
• ISBN 13: 9780801857843
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 179