Many public intellectuals gain authority within public opinion from their expertise in merely one field such as Literacy or Politics, but this is not the case for Clive Hamilton who has diverse fields including Economics, Education, Politics and Climate Change. For example, he was the left wing party Greens candidate in the by-election for the federal seat of Higgins in 2009; he has published 5 books related to climate change and 2 books regarding to consumerism; and he has worked in universities for over 2 decades (Hamilton 2016). The aim of this essay is to present one of the most distinctive Australian Public Intellectuals: Clive Hamilton. The following essay will address his biography in brief, one aspect of his work, his contributions to society, political spectrum, controversy and his opponents. Clive Hamilton was born in Canberra in 1953 (Clive Hamilton 2016), he received primary, secondary and first tertiary education in his hometown. He has an amazing academic background: received first BA in History, Psychology and Pure Mathematics from Australia National University (ANU), second BA of Economics with first class honors from the University of Sydney, achieved overseas …show more content…
He is known as a professional moralist and ethicist. The one and only so called controversy is created by his opponent, Andrew Bolt. Hamilton is labelled as a hypocrite by Bolt because of his constant criticism of climate change denialists. Bolt claims that ‘Hamilton purports to stand for a kinder, better world. But not for the first time, he reminds me of the danger of the moral zealot’ (Herald sun 2015). Bolt continues ‘that their conviction of their own good and the evil of their enemies give them licence to use any means whatsoever to crush the opposition’. Bolt also describes Hamilton’s criticism as viciously abusive and a personal attack. But strictly speaking, Bolt’s accusation of Hamilton being a hypocrite is not