Comments on: Top “British” Public Intellectuals

By: 英国留学

英国留学 — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 09:24:16 +0000

Who said anything about a barber? What, is Grayling missing hands or something? He can’t cut that stuff off himself? Sure he can. 英国留学

By: Chris Martin

Chris Martin — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 22:46:18 +0000

Grayling bears an uncanny resemblance to Gary Oldman. Perhaps Oldman can play him when they make a biopic.

By: Matt McGrattan

Matt McGrattan — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 20:36:40 +0000

Re: A.C.Grayling… I’ve never been a fan of his Guardian columns. I think Julian Baggini does a much better job of that type of thing, to be honest. However, Grayling’s book on ‘Berkeley’ is excellent. One of, if not the the best books available in that area. [IMHO]

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 18:42:57 +0000

Oh, Alan Ryan, that’s true – he’s one of my favorites. I was going to say Ray Monk, too, if I did an alternative list. Maybe I will have to do one. Thanks for Daily Mail-Melanie P info.

By: harry

harry — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 15:33:46 +0000

I think Phillips has, in fact, gone slightly mad (crazy, nuts, since we’re on the subject of US-UK differeneces in usage). Not that she was ever anything but appalling, but if you read her ‘diary’ she comes off as deeply obsessive and irrational. Quite different from Scruton who just seems to enjoy pissing people off.

By: Backword Dave

Backword Dave — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:05:00 +0000

Ophelia, the Daily Mail columnist is Melanie Phillips: warrior on straw, and abuser of adjectives. Like Roger Scruton, her main thesis is “fings ain’t wot they used ter be” but I quite like Scruton (a perverse taste, I know), while she is mostly shrill—“Drugs are wicked” and “Everyone on the left is an anti-semite” just about sums up her world view.

By: micah

micah — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 04:18:43 +0000

I’m very surprised Alan Ryan isn’t on the list. Any reason for his omission?

By: adm

adm — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 02:33:45 +0000

How is Roger Scrutton on the list while (Sir)Derek Parfit and Joseph Raz are left out? Granted they are much more influential in academic circles, but surely they can passibly count as public intellectuals. I don’t know anything about British public debate, but I do recall Parfit mentioning several high profile commissions etc that he has served on. James Griffin (yes, he’s an American citizen, but he’s been at Oxford forever) also might qualify, he was given a knighthood (or some equivalent) in (if I recall correctly) Argentina for his work on well being. Shouldn’t that qualify him as a British public intellectual?

By: DJW

DJW — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 00:43:19 +0000

I don’t know, I’ve been cutting my own hair for years. It’s really not that hard, at least for me. I’m not accomplishing artistic genius, but you can’t really tell the difference between what I do and what a mediocre barber would do. Close enough, and free.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 21:02:38 +0000

Dunno, cutting your own hair, like bringing democracy to countries you’ve just conquered, has always struck me as the sort of thing that enthusiastic amateurs should not attempt at the risk of coming out looking stupid and perhaps slightly bloody. (Yes yes, sorry for injecting politics into this, I thought it was funny though.) (Also, I have never lived anywhere near the UK, so my use of “dunno” is affected. “Bloody” is not used in the UK sense though.)

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:54:33 +0000

Oh – that’s a thought. Ibn Warraq. He’s done quite a lot for public understanding too.

By: Stephen Wade

Stephen Wade — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:38:22 +0000

I know he might be more intellectual (or academic) than public, but what of Bernard Lewis? His efforts in the academic establishment have a major impact on the public discourse on Near Eastern topics, and indeed his methodology is one of the more stringent (and, in my opinion, effective) within the academic establishment.

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:25:14 +0000

Barber? Who said anything about a barber? What, is Grayling missing hands or something? He can’t cut that stuff off himself? Sure he can.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:13:03 +0000

Oh I don’t think that’s so bad at all. Methinks Timberites are displaying unnecessarily repressive attitudes toward hair-dos. I myself will always stand up for the rights of people who are too lazy to go to the barber as often as we should.

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 18:54:23 +0000

You did indeed, Chris, and I burst into tears at the memory several times a day. Oh yes, I know about the silly essays, I’ve even read one or two, and agree about them. Also about the hair. But I like Dawkins a lot more than you do, apparently, so that may account for the horrible echo. That and always talking about Toast, of course.