Summary Of Intellectuals And Democracy Kingwell

In his essay “Intellectuals and Democracy," Martin Kingwell discusses the importance of intellectuals engaging in political life while advocating for democratic values. He argues that while this idea is important, it is not the only factor that determines a democracy's success. Instead, Kingwell argues that what matters most for the functioning of a democracy is the kind of public realm it creates, and the way society engages these issues. This idea is broken down into two areas: one focusing on the role of the media and the other on political engagement. Martin Kingwell's work on Intellectuals and Democracy provides a compelling argument as to why democracy isn't a sufficient device to ensure that intellectuals are heard. The crux of Kingwell's argument lies in his distinction between democracy, which is based in centralized power, and the character of intellectuals who possess an outlook based both on reason and imagination and seek to address difficult questions about our time through critical analysis.

Kingwell argues that the media play a critical element in shaping this debate, but that their position is not as essential as it's far often made out to be. Kingwell states "Intellectuals must find ways to stay engaged with the broader public, and to ensure that their insights and perspectives are not lost or forgotten.", he shows what's important is that the media have a fair stability of perspectives and no longer sell a specific ideology in reality. However, he acknowledges that the media also plays a positive position in shaping public opinion, although this strength is constrained, they don't necessarily have the strength to govern how humans assume or sense about positive