Saturday, January 6, 2024

The Duties of the Left-Wing Intellectual

 

First and foremost, the duties of the left-wing intellectual comprise those of any intellectual, regardless of ideological predisposition—to be an independent seeker of truth, and to follow the pursuit of truth no matter where it may take him/her, even into regions discordant with his/her already-established political, social, and cultural beliefs.  In other words, the pursuit of truth, no matter what, is a journey into knowledge, not faith; and should knowledge and faith conflict, for the true intellectual, knowledge, not faith, not belief, will win out.  If what I believe is now contradicted by the facts, I will abandon or modify my belief in favor of the facts.  Not the other way around.  That is what true intellectualism is, and it holds regardless of any ideology, be it left, right, center, or any combinations or hybrids of those. 

 

For the left-wing intellectual, be s/he a true intellectual, is a knowledge-seeker first, a committed ideologue decidedly second.  S/he is decidedly not a missionary, a proselytizer, a salesperson, an influencer; s/he is a mentor, a guide to others on what is truth and how it is to be found, not a pastor or guru with special arcana to impart.  The left-wing intellectual, same as any intellectual, relies on logic, reason, proof, demonstration, and evidence to raise awareness of knowledge; s/he does not rely on word magic, manipulation, one-sided talking points, loaded language, or other forms of irrationalities to convince others.  The left-wing intellectual trusts in human reason, even though such trust is bound to sometimes disappoint when dealing with the myriads of diverse humans, because s/he knows it is the only sure way to impart new knowledge, or reconsideration of old knowledge.  In other words, there is no quick fix, no magic Philosopher’s Stone, to bring masses of people over to one’s own left-wing personal convictions.  The building of consciousness is thus a slow but steady process, and is ofttimes maddeningly slow.  But quick fix shortcuts are ephemeral; what is affirmed today can just as readily be denied tomorrow.  For it is not the specific belief that counts; it is the proper process for coming to the belief that is crucial.  After all, it is indeed possible (as we all know from probability) to come to “correct” answers by incorrect or specious means.  Just randomly guessing the answer on a multiple-choice test all but absolutely guarantees that a certain percentage of the answers, e.g., 25% on a series of four-answer questions, are going to be correct, even if only chosen by randomness bereft of any actual knowledge!

 

Further, this process of correctly ascertaining new knowledge is also the most integrally democratic, i.e., democratically socialist.  It relies on the capacity of each to reason, and to be trained, educated, into the procedures for right reason.  It is this, the capacity of ordinary men and women endowed with ordinary intellectual skills to be able to be knowledge-seekers in themselves, that is the core tenet of a truly democratic socialism.  “We need no condescending saviors,” says the third verse of the Internationale, and it is eminently correct.  We ordinary people do not need arcane “vanguards,” infallible “leaders,” or magically endowed “saviors” to know what is best for us overall, although we as individuals, or even as groups of individuals, may stumble and fall sometimes, stumble and fall even badly.  This is well put in Abraham Lincoln’s noted dictum:  “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”  Yes, there will arise, even after a long historical slumber, the bold ten-year-old boy who exclaims, “The Emperor has no clothes on!” even as the sycophantic courtesans insist that he is dressed in the most exquisite finery.  Thus does a Hitler, or a Stalin, or a Pol Pot, become exposed for what he is.  That is what we of the left mean by the development of historical consciousness. And that is precisely where we, the left-wing intellectuals, have a role to play in furthering, developing, and nurturing this consciousness.  Through education, dissemination of knowledge (not, decidedly not, mere belief!), and advancing the processes of right reason, along with dissemination of awareness of those negatives which impede this—logical fallacies, rhetorical tricks, use of magic or loaded words, hyperbole, misleading half-truths.  That is why we, the left-wing intellectuals, are always students ourselves; learning both from books, and from life, what is the best way to continue our search for knowledge, and not just be content with resting on a cushion of comfortable belief.