The Triumph and Tragedy of the Intellectuals: Evil, Enlightenment, and Death

This fourth instalment of Harry Redner's tetralogy on the history of civilization argues that intellectuals have a brilliant past, a dubious present, and possibly no future. He contends that the philosophers of the seventeenth century laid the ground for the intellectuals of the eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment. They, in turn, promoted a fundamental transformation of human consciousness: they literally intellectualized the world. The outcome was the disenchantment of the world in all its cultural dimensions: in art, religion, ethics, politics, and philosophy.In this fascinating study, Redner demonstrates how secularization took the sting out of both the dread and promise of an afterlife and intellectuals learned to die without the hope of immortality popularized by philosophy and religion. Ultimately, they produced the ideologies that generated the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century, which subsequently exterminated these intellectuals through mass murder on a scale never before experienced. The book traces the sources of this fatal entanglement and goes on to examine the contemporary condition of intellectuals in America and the world.Wherein lies the future of the intellectuals? Redner suggest that in the present state of globalization, dominated by technocrats, experts, and professionals, their fate remains uncertain.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Part I: Evil and the Tragedy of the Intellectuals 1 How Intellectuals Arrived at Radical Evil Section I—From Ideologies to Exterminism Section II—From Ideals to Ideologies Section III—From Philosophy to Revolution 2 The Psychology and Sociology of Radical Evil Section I—Intellectual Hatred Is the Worst Section II—The Victimization Process Section III—How to Succeed by Evil Means 3 On How to Judge Radical Evil Doers Section I—A Reading of Pascal Section II—Historical Varieties of Evil Section III—On a Fortuitous Misreading of Kant Section IV—Pascal's Premonition of Radical Evil1 Part II: Enlightenment and the Triumph of the Intellectuals1 4 The Varieties of Intellectuals in Europe Section I—Intellectuals in General Section II—Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Section III—Intellectuals in France Section IV—Intellectuals in Germany and Russia Section V—Intellectuals in England and Scotland 5 The Intellectualization of the World Section I—Intellectualization of Politics, Philosophy, and Religion Section II—Intellectualization of Morals Section III—Intellectualization of the Arts 6 The Fall of the Intellectuals in Europe and America Section I—Pride before the Fall Section II—The Last of the Intellectuals Section III—New World Intellectuals Section IV—Intellectuals and Technocrats Part III: Death and Afterlife 7 Death in History Section I—The Death of Hume Section II—Representations of Death throughout the Ages Section III—Borkenau and Freud 8 De-demonization and Democracy Section I—Plato and Paul and the Devil Himself Section II—The Birth of Democracy from the Spirit of Enlightenment 9 The Many Faces of Death Section I—Mass Mechanical Death Section II—Modern Death and the Afterlife 10 The Return of the Intellectuals Section I—Intellect and Intelligence Section II—Generalist Intellectuals Index