#2: Note-Worthy Public Intellectuals


Here are just a handful of public intellectuals that, I believe, are significant in our day and age.


Malala Yousafzai
At 15 years old, Malala survived being shot in the head by the Taliban while campaigning for girls education in Pakistan. While this event didn't catapult her into a public intellectualism, it only made her advocacy for female education stronger. Malala is still advocating for female education and other major issues that affect marginalized groups (like gun control, for example). Her discourse is widely accessible, poignant and relatable for a lot of people. When addressing groups, she poses questions that provoke critical thinking and move people into action. Malala is also the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient ever, which is just incredibly impressive.

"We should all consider each other as human beings, and we should respect each other."


Mary Midgley
Midgley is an English moral philosopher from London. She has written numerous critical texts, such as The Myths We Live By, Can't We Make Moral Judgments? and Are You an Illusion? A major belief that Midgley has is that science cannot substitute the humanities, which I believe many people nowadays can agree with--especially linguists and artists who may be using alternative methods to engage in discourse (see Ai Weiwei below). Her writing, like any philosopher, is highly contemplative, but in a modern and engaging way. The way she thinks and speaks, in my opinion, elevates discourse in our modern public sphere to a slightly level than the average public intellectual.

“Unless all that we take to be knowledge is an illusion, we must hold that in thinking we are not reading rationality into an irrational universe, but responding to a rationality with which the universe has always been saturated.” -from Science as Salvation: A Modern Myth and its Meaning


 And to switch it up a bit (perhaps part of a "new model" of public intellectuals?)...


Ai Weiwei
Ai is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist. He is a huge human rights and political activist, his advocacy shining through his art. A few years ago, he displayed millions of life-sized, hand-crafted porcelain sunflower seed husks at the Tate Modern in London. The purpose of Sunflower seeds was to call viewers to take a closer look at the "Made in China" ideal, as well as bring attention to the politics of cultural and economic exchange at present. This is just one of many ways that Ai Weiwei shapes discourse (albeit in a more tangible way) for mass consumption and understanding. The ways in which he is engaging the world at large, much like Malala and other public intellectuals, are thoughtful and make a lasting impact. Of interesting note is Ai Weiwei's investigations of government corruption.

"As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am. As long as I can communicate, I'm not so lonely. If I cannot travel, or do art, or have company, if they take away all my belongings, it doesn't matter at all."

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