The status and role of the intellectual in Benda and Sartre

Abstract

This article aims to explore the themes of the status and function of the intellectual in two significant authors from the twentieth century onwards: Julien Benda and Jean-Paul Sartre. It is a question of revisiting the notions of autonomy and engagement, fundamental to a comparative understanding between the two authors. The text seeks to characterize in a broad way the type of intellectual defended by Benda at the same time that it seeks to highlight the genesis and the conditions of emergence of the intellectual for Sartre. The Dreyfus Affair, historical moment of emergence of the intellectual as we know it, is revisited in order to establish a concrete reference for the positions of the authors under discussion. From the elements raised, we seek to argue in the sense of the divergences between Benda and Sartre on the nature and role of the intellectual, but also propose to highlight the common ground on which the two authors seem to travel. The text also points out issues to think about the intellectual from the new political and social conditions in contemporary times.