Listening and Deciding
Between the intellectual and the political leader there inevitably lies a gap.
Between the intellectual and the political leader there inevitably lies a gap.
Between the intellectual and the political leader there inevitably lies a gap. The intellectual pursues truth; the politician, power. If both parties are wise, they recognize this existential situation and tolerate each other's consequent limitations. Each has his respective duties: the intellectual, to seek the truth and speak it to power; the political leader, to use the truth to help him exercise power wisely.