Description
Book SynopsisJulien Benda''s classic study of 1920s Europe resonates today. The treason of the intellectuals is a phrase that evokes much but is inherently ambiguous. The book bearing this title is well known but little understood. This edition is introduced by Roger Kimball.
From the time of the pre-Socratics, intellectuals were a breed apart. They were non-materialistic knowledge-seekers who believed in a universal humanism and represented a cornerstone of civilized society. According to Benda, this all began to change in the early twentieth century. In Europe in the 1920s, intellectuals began abandoning their attachment to traditional philosophical and scholarly ideals, and instead glorified particularisms and moral relativism.
The treason of which Benda writes is the betrayal by the intellectuals of their unique vocation. He criticizes European intellectuals for allowing political commitment to insinuate itself into their understanding of the intellectual vocation, ushering the w
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Transaction Edition
Translator’s Note
Author’s Foreword
1 The Modern Perfecting of Political Passions
2 Significance of this Movement—Nature of Political Passions
3 The “Clerks”—The Great Betrayal
4 Summary—Predictions
Notes
