Abstract

The following remarks attempt to explore the role of the intellectuals in contemporary revolutionary transformations, and to apprehend their character and meaning. As a whole, the project has two versions of the argument, a weak and a strong one. The minimum project seeks to specify the historical mechanisms that contribute to the radicalization of Western intellectuals and induce them to play a role in the revolutions of the twentieth century. Grounded in the unchallengeable premise that the intellectuals have played a revolutionary role of some substance, this version of the argument does not commit itself to a judgment on how important their role has been.