Periodic "crises" in our academic culture remind us that the
organization of our intellectual life is a product of history - neither
fixed by the logic of social development nor inherent in the nature of
knowledge itself. At a time of much unease in academia and among the
general public about the relation of intellect to public life, Thomas
Bender explores both the nineteenth-century origins and the
twentieth-century configurations of academic intellect in the United
States. Intellect and Public Life pays special attention to the changing
relationship of academic to urban culture. Examining the historical
tensions faced by intellectuals who aspired to be at once academics and
citizens, Bender traces the growing commitment of intellectuals to
professional expertise and autonomy. He finds, as well, a historical
pattern of academic withdrawal from the public discussion of matters of
general concern. Yet the volume concludes on a hopeful note. With the
demise of the classical republican notion of the public, Bender
contends, there has emerged a more pluralistic notion of the public
that - combined with the revival of interest in pragmatic theories of
truth - may offer the possibility of a richer collaboration of democracy
and intellect.