Top 100 Public Thinkers
Posted by Moonage on 27 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: Opinions
Foreignpolicy.com sent me a notice that they are taking a poll to find out who the Top 100 public Intellectuals are ( the poll is actually on Prospectmagazine.com ). This is quite a list:
| Name | Occupation | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Chinua Achebe | Novelist | Nigeria |
| Jean Baudrillard | Sociologist, cultural critic | France |
| Gary Becker | Economist | United States |
| Pope Benedict XVI | Religious leader | Germany, Vatican |
| Jagdish Bhagwati | Economist | India, United States |
| Fernando Henrique Cardoso | Sociologist, former president | Brazil |
| Noam Chomsky | Linguist, author, activist | United States |
| J.M. Coetzee | Novelist | South Africa |
| Gordon Conway | Agricultural ecologist | Britain |
| Robert Cooper | Diplomat, writer | Britain |
| Richard Dawkins | Biologist, polemicist | Britain |
| Hernando de Soto | Economist | Peru |
| Pavol Demes | Political analyst | Slovakia |
| Daniel Dennett | Philosopher | United States |
| Kemal Dervis | Economist | Turkey |
| Jared Diamond | Biologist, physiologist, historian | United States |
| Freeman Dyson | Physicist | United States |
| Shirin Ebadi | Lawyer, human rights activist | Iran |
| Umberto Eco | Medievalist, novelist | Italy |
| Paul Ekman | Psychologist | United States |
| Fan Gang | Economist | China |
| Niall Ferguson | Historian | Britain |
| Alain Finkielkraut | Essayist, philosopher | France |
| Thomas Friedman | Journalist, author | United States |
| Francis Fukuyama | Political scientist, author | United States |
| Gao Xingjian | Novelist, playwright | China |
| Howard Gardner | Psychologist | United States |
| Timothy Garton Ash | Historian | Britain |
| Henry Louis Gates Jr. | Scholar, cultural critic | United States |
| Clifford Geertz | Anthropologist | United States |
| Neil Gershenfeld | Physicist, computer scientist | United States |
| Anthony Giddens | Sociologist | Britain |
| Germaine Greer | Writer, academic | Australia, Britain |
| Jürgen Habermas | Philosopher | Germany |
| Ha Jin | Novelist | China |
| Václav Havel | Playwright, statesman | Czech Republic |
| Ayaan Hirsi Ali | Politician | Somalia, Netherlands |
| Christopher Hitchens | Polemicist | United States, Britain |
| Eric Hobsbawm | Historian | Britain |
| Robert Hughes | Art critic | Australia |
| Samuel Huntington | Political scientist | United States |
| Michael Ignatieff | Writer, human rights theorist | Canada |
| Shintaro Ishihara | Politician, author | Japan |
| Robert Kagan | Author, political commentator | United States |
| Daniel Kahneman | Psychologist | Israel, United States |
| Sergei Karaganov | Foreign-policy analyst | Russia |
| Paul Kennedy | Historian | Britain, United States |
| Gilles Kepel | Scholar of Islam | France |
| Naomi Klein | Journalist, author | Canada |
| Rem Koolhaas | Architect | Netherlands |
| Enrique Krauze | Historian | Mexico |
| Julia Kristeva | Philosopher | France |
| Paul Krugman | Economist, columnist | United States |
| Hans Küng | Theologian | Switzerland |
| Jaron Lanier | Virtual reality pioneer | United States |
| Lawrence Lessig | Legal scholar | United States |
| Bernard Lewis | Historian | Britain, United States |
| Bjørn Lomborg | Environmentalist | Denmark |
| James Lovelock | Scientist | Britain |
| Kishore Mahbubani | Author, diplomat | Singapore |
| Ali Mazrui | Political scientist | Kenya |
| Sunita Narain | Environmentalist | India |
| Antonio Negri | Philosopher, activist | Italy |
| Martha Nussbaum | Philosopher | United States |
| Sari Nusseibeh | Diplomat, philosopher | Palestine |
| Kenichi Ohmae | Management theorist | Japan |
| Amos Oz | Novelist | Israel |
| Camille Paglia | Social critic, author | United States |
| Orhan Pamuk | Novelist | Turkey |
| Steven Pinker | Experimental psychologist | Canada, United States |
| Richard Posner | Judge, scholar, author | United States |
| Pramoedya Ananta Toer | Writer, dissident | Indonesia |
| Yusuf al-Qaradawi | Cleric | Egypt, Qatar |
| Robert Putnam | Political scientist | United States |
| Tariq Ramadan | Scholar of Islam | Switzerland |
| Martin Rees | Astrophysicist | Britain |
| Richard Rorty | Philosopher | United States |
| Salman Rushdie | Novelist, political commentator | Britain, India |
| Jeffrey Sachs | Economist | United States |
| Elaine Scarry | Literary theorist | United States |
| Amartya Sen | Economist | India |
| Peter Singer | Philosopher | Australia |
| Ali al-Sistani | Cleric | Iran, Iraq |
| Peter Sloterdijk | Philosopher | Germany |
| Abdolkarim Soroush | Religious theorist | Iran |
| Wole Soyinka | Playwright, activist | Nigeria |
| Lawrence Summers | Economist, academic | United States |
| Mario Vargas Llosa | Novelist, politician | Peru |
| Harold Varmus | Medical scientist | United States |
| Craig Venter | Biologist, businessman | United States |
| Michael Walzer | Political theorist | United States |
| Florence Wambugu | Plant Pathologist | Kenya |
| Wang Jisi | Foreign-policy analyst | China |
| Steven Weinberg | Physicist | United States |
| E.O. Wilson | Biologist | United States |
| James Q. Wilson | Criminologist | United States |
| Paul Wolfowitz | Policymaker, academic | United States |
| Fareed Zakaria | Journalist, author | United States |
| Zheng Bijian | Political scientist | China |
| Slavoj Zizek | Sociologist, philosopher | Slovenia |
Of that list, I can honestly identify about 10. I can also name about 100 that are not on the list. I don’t know what the criteria is to get on that list, but Prospect does the right thing and allows for write-ins. It’s pretty cool.
Now, I’m not going to belittle or disparage anyone on that list, it’s totally subjective. However, I couldn’t help but notice the age breakdown:
| Less than 50 | 0 |
| 50 to 60 | 32 |
| 60 to 70 | 25 |
| 70 to 80 | 28 |
| 80 to 90 | 5 |
| Over 90 | 0 |
Do they really think there are no Public thinkers under the age of 50 worth mentioning? That’s sad. That’s scary.
I also think that’s wrong.
4 Comments »
on 27 Sep 2005 at 1:29 pm 1.Bryan Kerwick
said …
The vast majority of these people are of the Viet-Nam era where any use of force was viewed as demonic at best.
Those in the under 50 crowd have a decidedly conservative attitude, hence there are none on the list.
Anyone want to make a wager as to how the poll was conducted and by which ideology they prescribe to?
The world has become decidedly conservative as of late and these folks were purposely left off the list as is the want of the Liberal crowd who are the majority of voters in this poll. I see no reason to give creedance to any poll that is so blatently onesided nor should any other real mainstream Americans. I fail to see the reasoning you have as to why this poll was conducted in the manner it was when the outcome was predetermined and the candidates polled were also predetermined.
This is the so-called mainstream media at its usual factual manipulation of what they think the real mainstream should be.
on 27 Sep 2005 at 7:08 pm 2.Moonage
said …
I agree to some point Brian. Being “liberal” is synonymous with “thinking”. I have often argued that to be truly liberal, one must put the value of what they think above personal responsibility. This list is a group of “thinkers”. I don’t think it’s so much a Vietnam thing as it is an era thing. The key to the 60’s was personal enlightenment moreso than just protesting something. Once again, what they thought was more important than personal responsibility. So, I don’t think this is a media thing, it’s cultural. However, they do allow write-ins, I’d like to know who some people here think should be appropriate under 50’s public thinkers.
on 27 Sep 2005 at 9:17 pm 3.Erik said …
Naomi Klein is 35.
I’ve heard of 29 of them.
I’m familiar with the work of 24 of them.
Thanks for the post.
on 27 Sep 2005 at 10:49 pm 4.Moonage
said …
I’d like to know what you think of the 24 your familiar with. Nothing terribly detailed, just an idea of the ones you like most and why. I’m thinking of going into some details on the ones I know, but that’s going to take some time that I really don’t have right now.