The Position Of The Intellectuals And Post-colonialism

From the beginning of it's birth, the heat debate about the post-colonialism theory has never ceased. Edward W Said , the founder of this criticism, had to argue for his theory again and again, and correct the misunderstanding of his work. From his book <> , we can see the post-colonialism theory inherit the spirit of the Enlightenment and criticizing the reality which has been passed down from one generation to the other for centuries. This will give us essential clues to understand the background of the theory.<> discuss the topic of intellectual from six aspects: intellectual should be the social elite who fights for his ideal, to spur the mass not to cater for the mass; intellectual should confine the boundary of the nation and tradition, to protect the general value of the human-being beyond some single nation and culture; intellectual should be the eternal inner exiled; modern intellectual has to be a professionals but he/she must try to keep a amateurish attitude; intellectual should criticize the authority bravely and always tell the truth to authority; intellectual should never be a true believer but should always be a skeptic.His discourse upon the intellectual is in line with his post-colonialism theory, and can be an important coordinate for China's post-colonialism criticism. W e can check our misunderstanding and flaw in our theory by comparison and cast lights on some of our important issues such as how totreat our traditional national culture, how to keep critical attitude toward the political and academic authority, etc.His position on the intellectual conflicts with the whole post-modernism context and his own methodology, but for China's cultural reality, it is just the dimension we lack of, and so has its value.