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Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society

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by Morley Evans

Intellectuals and Society




This interview contains nuggets such as these:

"The Road to Hell is paved with Ivy League degrees."
"Intellectuals see no need to verify their ideas with evidence."
"Intellectuals see evidence as a threat to their ideas and power."
"I was a committed Marxist until I became a government employee."
"Unlike Harvard and other prominent universities, the University of Chicago demanded more than a commitment to an ideology."
"Milton Friedman required ideas to be backed up with evidence and cogent argumentation."
"Students need to choose a school where professors don't think their students are an audience for their propaganda."

Why are we in a period of unprecedented influence of intellectuals? "In the past, societies were run by autocrats, kings and emperors. It didn't matter what the people thought. With democratic governments, it matters very much what people think. People can financially afford education.

Intellectuals affect what the people think, not what the rulers think. Rulers respond to 'public opinion'. Intellectuals have become powerful."

Paraphrasing is used above. - ed


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