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Julien Benda

The Treason of the Intellectuals (LA Trahison Des Clercs) Paperback – January 1, 1969

by Julien Benda (Author)

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Julien Benda's classic study of the European 1920s resonates today. La trahison des clercs is one of those phrases that bristle with hints and associations without stating anything definite. In his new introduction, Roger Kimball quotes from a contemporary, Alain Finkielkraut, who recalls in haunting words the essence of The Treason of the Intellectuals. "When hatred of culture becomes itself a part of culture, the life of the mind loses all meaning." As Kimball reminds us, in the present age, only the title of the book, not its argument, enjoys currency. The book itself is well known without being known well. Its release at this time should overcome that neglect.

The "treason" of which Benda writes was the betrayal by the intellectuals of their unique vocation. From the time of the pre-Socratics, intellectuals, in their role as intellectuals, had been a breed apart. In Benda's terms, they were understood to be "all those whose activity essentially is not the pursuit of practical aims, all those who seek their joy in the practice of an art or a science or a metaphysical speculation, in short in the possession of non-material advantages." Thanks to such men, Benda noted, "humanity did evil for two thousand years, but honored good. This contradiction was an honor to the human species, and formed the rift whereby civilization slipped into the world."

According to Benda, this situation began to change in the early decades of the twentieth century. More and more, intellectuals abandoned their attachment to the traditional panoply of philosophical and scholarly ideals. One clear indication of the change was the attack on the Enlightenment ideal of universal humanity and the concomitant glorification of various particularisms. The implications for intellectual life today are transparent, and this long unavailable classic of European thought should interest all those who teach and who preach the human sciences.

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Product details

Publisher : W W Norton & Co Inc (January 1, 1969)
Language : English
Paperback : 1 pages
ISBN-10 : 0393004708
ISBN-13 : 978-0393004700
Item Weight : 8 ounces
Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,747,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,247 in Political Philosophy (Books)

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Michael J. Ryan

Must read that transcends time.

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2014

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It's a really interesting perspective about how the role of intellectuals has changed. It might not be a popular way to look at things, at how we got where we are right now, but Benda has some valid points to make. He may miss out on some larger issues related to technology and media, but he has enough knowledge of these and information more directly related to his thesis. Overall it is a relatively quick read and should be required reading for anyone who has a deeply formed alliance with one particular dogma, party, or other...

9 people found this helpful

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Peter Capofreddi

A brilliant indictment of incipient pragmatism

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2008

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Nietzsche cogently recognized that disinterested reason, when it disinterestedly looks upon its own origins, finds that it is really not so disinterested after all. French intellectuals such as Maurras, Sorel, Péguy and Barrès proclaimed that reason not only must abandon all pretenses of being disinterested, but must even celebrate this abandonment, placing itself enthusiastically in the service of practical interests, particularly of the interests of the race, the nation or the state. Although these thinkers are now remembered, if at all, primarily as progenitors of fascism, their response to Nietzsche remains very much a part of contemporary intellectual life. Benda's indictment of this response in The Treason of the Intellectuals therefore remains very relevant.

Benda decries the change in the attitude toward intellectual activity manifested by proto-fascists like Maurras:

"Since the Greeks the predominant attitude of thinkers towards intellectual activity was to glorify it insofar as (like aesthetic activity) it finds its satisfaction in itself, apart from any attention to the advantages it may procure. Most thinkers would have agreed with ... Renan's verdict that the man who loves science for its fruits commits the worst of blasphemies. ... The modern `clerks' have violently torn up this charter. They proclaim the intellectual functions are only respectable to the extent that they are bound up with the pursuit of concrete advantage." (p. 151)

The "concrete advantage" that was most important to the proto-fascists was of course that of the state. "Up until our own times," Benda reminds us, "men had only received two sorts of teaching in what concerns the relations between politics and morality. One was Plato's and it said: `Morality decides politics'; and the other was Machiavelli's, and it said `Politics have nothing to do with morality.' Today we receive a third. M. Maurras teaches: `Politics decide morality.'" (p. 110) As a result of this "divinizing of politics," the evil which serves politics ceases to be regarded as evil and becomes good. (p. 108)

Benda recognizes that the abandonment of intellectual conscience preached by proto-fascists like Maurras is in fact at odds with Nietzsche's thought, but claims that Nietzsche himself is partly to blame for this misinterpretation. Benda cites the observation of Léon Brunschvicg that systems like those of Hegel and Nietzsche "which begin by accepting contradictions, reserving the right to add that they are capable of surmounting them or of 'living' them, lodge their enemy in their midst. Their punishment is that their antithesis still resembles them; and this is what has happened to Nietzsche." (pp. 229-230)

Nietzsche insists that intellectual conscience requires recognition of the interestedness of reason, of the fact the reason is always motivated by passion. He further insists that his injunction amor fati requires that we enthusiastically accept this aspect of our present condition. But an intellectual conscience that enthusiastically accepts its origins is by no means equivalent to an intellectual conscience that is vanquished by its origins. In order to comply with Nietzsche's mandate to pick up the spear of culture and throw it onward from the point where others have left it, we must seek a more profound kind of intellectual conscience that recognizes its origins, not retreat to a narrow sort of instrumental reason that submits itself to passion, class, race or state. Indeed, as soon as we retreat to instrumental reason we have lost our right to insights like those of Nietzsche which are based upon, and only valid in the light of, the highest manifestation of intellectual conscience.

Benda points out that one reason for the base pragmatism of contemporary intellectuals is that they have been transformed into functionaries. "The modern world has made the `clerk' into a citizen, subject to all the responsibilities of a citizen, and consequently to despise lay passions is far more difficult for him than for his predecessors." (p. 158) Today the intellectual has the excuse that "he has to earn his living, and that it is not his fault if he is eager to support the class which takes a pleasure in his productions." (p. 159) The genuine intellectuals who are "never diverted from single-hearted adoration of the beautiful and the divine by the necessity of earning their daily bread" are becoming increasingly rare as intellectuals turn to practical passions, "and thence to the sanctifying of those passions." (p. 159)

Contemporary thinkers have of course repudiated the fascist politics of the thinkers that Benda criticizes, but they have by no means abandoned the notion that thought should be subservient to politics; they merely want to make sure that the master role is filled by liberal democratic politics. (See, for example, Richard Rorty, "The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy" in _Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth_.)

It has always been the case that the vast majority of men are mere instruments of commerce and find value in the intellect only insofar as it produces material results. And it has always been the case that these commercial men try to make a virtue of their narrow-minded "practicality." What is new in the twentieth century is that intellectuals have largely ceased to oppose this glorification of the practical and instead have added their voices to the chorus in praise of it.

72 people found this helpful

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Oscar Buttazzoni Alvarez

Lo recomendo Applebaum

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2020

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Da luces claras de lo qye ocurrio en Europa y el mundo despues de su tiempo, aunque su critica al pensamiento aleman esta tambien teñida de nacionalismo frances de su tiempo, que el mismo critica

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Daniel Bilar

Strong polemic against abdictation of resposibilty

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 1998

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This book should have served as a wake-up call when it first appeared in the twenties. The issue it addresses is as pertinent today as it was then: Intellectuals who abandon their calling to guide and instruct the masses according to the principles of the siecle de lumiere to become apologists for nationalist, irrationalist thoughts and deeds. Everybody who is active in shaping public discourse (politician, writers, especially professors) should head this book's warning and think twice before abdicating his or her responsibility towards society.

40 people found this helpful

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David M. Frost

There's no intellectual like a French intellectual

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2010

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This was a very good, very interesting and-- surprisingly, considering that it was written in the 1920's-- very timely book. Despite his insistence on repeatedly quoting or referencing rather obscure sources (and not bothering to translate Latin quotes), and despite a tendency to reiterate the same point, Benda's thesis-- that the world's intellectual elite has given up the pursuit of truth in favor of blatant agitprop in support of their political causes is a thought-provoking one. Benda's implicit secondary point (that Julien Benda is way more erudite than I am) is also undeniable.

11 people found this helpful

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M. Turner

The roots of totalitarianism and moral relativism

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2007

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I first became aware of this work after seeing that Hayek quoted a lengthy passage of Mr. Benda's book in "The Road to Serfdom". I'm only halfway through "The Treason of the Intellectuals" and I'm impressed with the breadth and depth of Benda's vision. This book's thesis, that the intellectuals have abandoned the study of the universal for the promotion of transitory goals, serves not just as a warning only against those who crave complete submission no matter the reason. It's also a reminder of the finite and fallible nature of Man.

19 people found this helpful

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Hair

Human nature never changes. Is it learned or genetic ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2016

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Human nature never changes. Is it learned or genetic? Who is to know, this treatise is as accurate and true today as when it was written.

One person found this helpful

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Stephens Ruggiero

Past become present

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2013

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It's history repeating itself when intellectuals representing traditional liberalism sell out society is in trouble. As then and now the guardians of truth and justice convert to privilege and power or worse become silently compliant the state becomes a runaway monster.

It's a must read a prelude to the sorry state of affairs of the present time.

6 people found this helpful

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John P. Sheldon

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 23, 2018

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Prompt delivery. Item as described

One person found this helpful

Prairie Pal

La Trahison des Clercs once more

Reviewed in Canada on September 7, 2017

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A classic defence of the true role of the intellectual and an attack on those who use use academia or the arts to stir up the masses and foment violence. The introduction by Roger Kimball is worth the price of the book by itself. Published in the turbulent years between the World Wars the message is equally valid for our own era.

Robert Wilkinson

I came to read this book by a circuitous route ...

Reviewed in Australia on June 22, 2017

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I came to read this book by a circuitous route. I am a reader of DH Lawrence, who wrote an introduction to 'Nothing is Impossible' by Lev Shestov. This prompted me to read the entire corpus of Shestov, engaging with this paradoxical view of life. There is apparently no written biographic 'Life' of Shestov. The nearest I could find was 'Conversations with Shestov' by Benjamin Fondane - his only disciple. In his 'Conservations,' Fondane remarked to Shestov that he was reviewing a book by one Julien Benda - with reluctance - as he did not expect much from this little known writer.
This book was 'The Treason of the Intellectuals'. Shestov, Fondane and Benda were all writers and philosophers of Jewish descent living in France during the 1930's. All showed remarkable insights into the internal decay of European intellectualism. Fondane was killed by the Nazis.
Lawrence was not Jewish but wrote appreciatively of their capacity to bring about scientific, political, religious and philosophical revolution.
This book is a must read for intrepid seekers of truth.

Rob J

A Prophet

Reviewed in Australia on July 27, 2015

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This writer was a true prophet. It was written around 1926 and is even more relevant today with the outrageous bias of the educational, literary and artistic community (should that be communisty?).

Make sure you read this extraordinary book and weep at the disgraceful revelations..

Johann M

Beautiful book, avoid this edition, also read Paul Nizan's 'The Watchdogs', a book responding to this book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2015

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The book is an extraordinary and beautifully-written encounter of the author's outraged moral universalism, with what he sees as the compromised and wicked nature of intellectual activity in the service of evil or egoistic political doctrine at the time of writing, 1927: fascism, communism, and German supremacism. If you read it - and I recommend you do (incidentally make sure to avoid this edition, it's a terrible facsimile, get an original used copy), be sure to read the amazing follow-up by Paul Nizan, The Watchdogs, in which he gives Benda and the enlightenment both barrels.

One person found this helpful

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