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THE INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY'
R ECENT evaluations
have tendedto pass one of two
judgments upon theEuropeanintellectuals.It has been
concludedeitherthat theylive in isolationfromtheir
societyand say nothingrelevantto it or thattheyare entirely
submerged in the societyand merelyreflectit.2 The factsto
which thesejudgmentsreferare clear enough. On the one
hand,intellectuals have adopteda criticalpositionvis-'a-visall
theimportant socialand politicalforcesof the day,whichoffer
no footholdfor theirideas. The continentalmiddle classes
have movedintoconfessional partiesin whichclericaland eco-
nomic interestspredominate;the secularliberalpartieshave
beenreducedto splintergroupsof theRight;theworkingclass
adhereseitherto a communism whichhas a set,unalterable doc-
trineor to socialistpartieswhichcan no longerafforda clear
theoreticalbasis;theorganizations of the Resistanceare dead-
Sartrewrotetheirepitaphwithhis withdrawalfromthe Ras-
semblementDemocratique Re'volutionnaire, which he had
helpedto found in theirimage. On the otherhand, intel-
lectualshave adoptedan apologeticpositionvis-'a-visinstitu-
tional forces-state,party,church,or university-onwhich
theyare increasingly forcedto dependfortheirlivelihoodand
fortheircontinuedintellectualexistence. The factorsbehind
thisdevelopment rangefromthe ibureaucratization of the in-
tellectualswhich has grownout of the shrinkageof middle-
classinheritedincomesand rthefinancialinstability of the gen-
eral periodical-thedisappearance of Horizon and Die VWand-
1 This paper was originallydeliveredbeforethe EuropeanSeminarof Columbia
EuropeanInstitutein March 1951.
University's
2 An excellentarticlewhich goes beyondthesecategories
is by KennethDouglas,
"The French Intellectuals:Situationand Outlook", in Edward Mead Earle, ed.,
Modern France: Problemsof the Third and Fourth Republics (Princeton,1951),
pp. 61-81.
[225]
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226 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 227
II
Somebackgroundis requiredto givean idea of the direction
in whichEuropeandhinkers
have beentraveling, fortwentieth-
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228 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVI
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 229
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230 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
III
Even allowingfor the inevitalble errorsof perspective, the
thinkingof our own centuryseemsinfinitely comiplex. The
positionswhichWesternman has takenforthe past 'twothou-
sandyearsall seemto reappearuponthesceneand demandonce
moreto be recognizedas ultimatesolutions. Religiousthought
in mystical,eschatological,or humanisticinterpretations, ra-
tionalism,scientific
materialism, idealism,are all in the arena
still,not simplyas the remnantsof intellectualtraditionsbut
revivified,almostblatantin theirpresentclaims. But thisvery
coexistence bespeaksa commonelementin theintellectual situ-
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 231
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232 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 2] INTELLECTUAL AND EUROPEANSOCIETY 233
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234 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 235
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236 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 23 INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 237
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238 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
IV
This has been a difficult and abstractexcursion,but one
necessaryto uncoverthe assumptions behindthe kindof writ-
ing whichthe intellectuals have been doingsincethe war; for
undoubtedly thechiefissuefortheintellectual has 'becomethat
of engagement, and what thismeanscan hardlybe understood
withoutreference to thetotalassumptions of theage. The ex-
ternalevidencesof engagement aremanifold. Not onlydo the
generalreviewsintermingle philosophical,literary,
politicaland
social articles-with the purpose,as Dolf Sternbergeran-
nouncedin Die Wandlung, " of drawingSpiritinto practical
responsibilityand illuminating politicswithSpirit"-but lead-
ing exponentsof thenew philosophies havecomedownintothe
puiblicistic
and even into the politicalarena (with the notable
exceptionof Heidegger).
Whatwe havecalledtheprimaryand thesecondary stagesof
ideas now meeton even termsin the discussionof European
socialand politicalproblems.Moststrikingherehave beenthe
yearlymeetings of theRencontresInternationales de Geneve,
wherephilosophers like Karl Jaspers,Georg Lukacs, Nicholas
Berdyaev,Merleau-Ponty, Guido de Ruggieroand Karl Barth
and men of letterslike Andre Siegfried, JulienBenda, Pierre
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 239
Herve,GeorgesBernanos,StephenSpender,Hans Paeschkeand
Denis de Rougemonthavemetto discussproblems. whichlivein
thatintermediate zone of value betweenphilosophy and society
-problems like the EuropeanSpirit,TechnicalProgressand
Moral Progress,Toward a New Humanism. The temperof
thesediscussions is well illustrated by an incidentwhichtook
place earlyin the discussionof technicaland moralprogress.
One participantaroseand tenderedto the assemblya piece of
advice,taken,he said,froman old Eskimoproverb:whenyou
wantto huntthesealin thesea,don'tgo whistling in themoun-
tains. This admonition to presentconcreteproposalsforaction
tooktheconference by storm,thereby revealing thedeep-rooted
desireof Europeanintellectuals to applythemselves to thesolu-
tionof politicaland socialproblems.
Froman externalpointof view,then,it wouldseemthatthe
mostrecentperiodof Europeanthoughthas beencharacterized
not so muchibythe development of new philosophies as by the
generalrecognition of the necessityfor the intellectualto en-
gage himselfin the politicaland social arena. Tlis simplein-
terpretation of engagement, however,does not suffice eitherto
explaintheconceptas theEuropeansholdit or to exiplain what,
underits aegis,the intellectuals -aretryingto do. It mightbe
men.tioned, in the firstplace, that such an interipretation is
hardlydistinctive, for in the 1840s this kind of engagement
wasprecisely therallying cryof theYoung Hegeliansin general
and of theyoungKarl Marx in particularfortheirrevisionof
Hegel. But secondly,and moreimportant, the injunctionto
engagein socialrealityseemsrathersuperfluous to an age which
has lbeenthinkingalong the lines which have been analyzed
above: whenthe individualis so immersed in process,in exist-
ence,it is hardlya contribution to tellhimto immersehimself
still further.
Actually,engagement meanstwo things. First,it statesthe
fact,impliedin all contemporary thinking,that men are en-
gagedin existence, willy-nilly,and thatconsequently contem-
plative,staticthoughtis an illusion. But secondly,it means
that men shouldbe engagedto transcendence, that is, to the
moralpurposewhichreachesout beyondman's immediateex-
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240 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 241
is striking
in ImmanuelMounier'sidea of thebasicallydramatic
qualityof humanhistory, of theeternalwithdrawaland return
of Christianfaith,characterized at once by transcendenceand
incarnation, fromand to humansociety,which alternately is
fructifiedby that faith,attractingit into socialparticipation,
and corruptsit, repellingit into an extra-socialrealmfor its
self-purgation.The dualityis evidenttoo in themanycurrent
spiralconceptionsof humanhistory,whichbespeakthe alter-
nation betweenman's creativetransformation of his social
worldand theoppressive weightof thisworlduponman'sfree-
dom. Indeed,in theseideasthe infinitedrama,withits impli-
cationsof ultimateimperfection and incompleteness,
is notonly
necessarybut desirable,becauseit providesan ever-recurring
challengeto man's assertion of his freedomand of his creative
capacities. This line of thoughtis closelyassociatedwith the
conceptionof man'sself-alienation whichare
and self-recovery
presentin thethoughtof Hegel and emphaticin thethoughtof
Marx. It is the presentrelevanceof this concepition which
helpsto explaintherecentrevival,in Franceat least,of interest
in the youngHegel and the youngMarx. It helpsto explain
too why the sameclimatewhichleadsintellectuals towardex-
istentialformsof thoughtleadsso manyalso to Marxism.
V
Giventheemphasisupon engagement, theconcernof thein-
tellectualswithspecificsocial and politicalissuesfollowsnatu-
rally,but,sincetheconceptof engagement is partof a general
attitudeand not of a philosophical the
system, applications are
not logicallyconsequent. The contentof such applicationsis
not given in structuredsocial and politicaltheories. If the
ideasin thisfieldcontaina pattern,it mustbe elicitedfroma
seriesof concreteproposals. Here two examplesof such pro-
posalswill be examined:on thesocialproblemand on theprob-
lem of the nation-state.
The connectionbetweenthe intellectuals' generalconceptof
man and theirjudgmentupon the presentconditionof Euro-
pean societylies in theirconvictionthat the presentsituation
represents an epitomein the processof man's self-alienation.
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242 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 243
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244 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 245
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246 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL. LXVII
VI
What,then,can we concludefromthisanalysisof theEuro-
pean intellectuals?
First,theyareconvincedthattheycan understand thereality
of our worldand our societyand thatthisreality,by reasonof
can be acted upon, withinlimits,by
its very discontinuity,
man.
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No. 2] INTELLECTUALS AND EUROPEAN SOCIETY 247
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