Abstract

Intellectuals are not in the habit of submitting their activities to sociological scrutiny — a scrutiny not only of the world in which they presume to act, but also of themselves as intellectuals and of the reasons (or social factors) that determine their actions. Thus the potential novelty of the project that follows: To establish the ends and means of a worldwide collective action by intellectuals, relying on the most realistic analysis possible of what intellectuals are and what they could be. At the risk of utopianism or irresponsibility, it must be emphasized that any ethical or political action by intellectuals will have to be grounded on a rigorous understanding of how the intellectual world operates.