On Edward W.Said's Theory Of The Intellectual

The field of intellectual theory has much complicated connotation. It concerns with many disciplines such as literature, politics, sociology, culture, etc. The theory itself is also flexible and changeable. This thesis studies Edward W. Said's intellectual theory, discusses the definition, characteristics and representation of the intellectual, we focus on how to behave in the contemporary era., stress his valuable thought of exile and amateurism, and then we point out their great function and profound meaning to the time.This thesis consists of six parts.The introduction briefly introduces the common and specific definitions of intellectuals, then accounts for the present researching situation at home and abroad.Part one: it discusses Said's definition of the intellectual in details, studies the intension, characteristics, and representations of the intellectual. The intellectual is an individual with a specific public role in society, he/she is fundamentally about knowledge and freedom.. To him/her, independence is an important aspect. He/she holds on universal values, defends truth and justice, as well as he/she has spirits of criticism, opposes parochial profitable area. Being in public sphere, he/she actively attends to political affairs, thus political responsibilities should be stressed. Intellectuals represent human beings who have subaltern status, minorities, small peoples and states, inferior or lesser cultures and races.Part two: this and the next part study the patterns of the intellectual's activity, i.e. To discuss how to behave in contemporary contexts. Said believes that exile plays a great role, and in this field, he is an original thinker. Based on his own special cultural identity, he analyzes the works and thoughts of J. Swift, V. S. Naipaul and T. Adomo, then presents the thoughts of Intellectual exile. It means to be marginal, the exile exists in a media state, neither completely at one with the new setting nor fully disencumbered of the old, beset with half-involvements and half-detachments. He/she is liberated from the usual career and narrow profitable area, because he /she has double-perspective that never sees things in isolation, a second advantage is the exile standpoint for an intellectual who tend to see things not simply as they are, but as they have come in that way. Meanwhile the exile stress the specific situation he/she is in. This makes one always connected with the social reality.Part three: Amateurism is also a tremendously important way in intellectual's activity. Said finds out that in nowadays professionalism makes 3 great pressures which challenge intellectual' ingenuity and will. They are: specialization; expertise and the cult of the certified expert; the inevitable drift towards power and authority, university social science and even humanities departments are also funded by the government. These pressures limit the area of knowledge as well as limit the intellectual's sights. In order to deal with the restrictions of professionism, Said uses amateurism to counter it. This does not means denying the influence of it, but representing a different set of values. In Said's thoughts, activities should be fueled by care and affection rather than by profit and selfish, narrow specialization.Part four: in this part, we try to totally value Said's thoughts of the intellectual. Individualism and cultural criticism still hold on realistic meaning; the conception of exile has great theoretical values, it can make the exile and the marginal a quite different figure, eliminate the restrictions of his/her situation, and acquire great freedom and justice of criticism. Being an individual vocation, an energy,and a stubborn force, he/she can go beyond narrow profitable area, detach him/her from the limitation of professionalism. Value the force of the mass is also one important aspect of Said's thoughts. All these thoughts above are much meaningful to Chinese intellectual: Said reveals the value of intellectual activity, i.e. one should not abandon his/her social...