Intellectuals oscillate between neutral discoverer and credentialed priest

Evidence

Above all, we would see more clearly the reflexive relationship of scholarship to society and be rid of the curse of intellectual man (and woman): the alternating belief that we are either a neutral class of discoverers of the laws of society or a new priesthood endowed with credentials that entitle us to run the social machinery. We would, finally, see truth and knowledge not as some objective map of the social order, nature speaking through us, but, in the lovely phrase of William James, as that which is good by way of belief, that which will get us to where we want to go. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 408

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘curse of intellectual man/woman’ as the oscillation between neutral observer and credentialed priesthood.
• XREF: William James’s pragmatist definition of truth connects to the ritual view’s emphasis on shared culture. — connects to: Intellectuals must admit ideology rather than claim value-free science — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 435; Intellectual honesty may turn Tushnet’s iconoclasm against fashionable explanatory shibboleths — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 667; The Orientalist scholar performs a secularized version of the priestly moral authority (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 408

Broader Connections

• Intellectuals must admit ideology rather than claim value-free science #corroborates (0.85) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 435