The Active Citizenship of Twentieth-Century Intellectuals: Reading Benda’s “La Trahison des clercs”

The 20th century has been characterized, amongst other ways, by the new role of intellectuals in public debate. Julien Benda’s book La Trahison des clercs represents a sort of summary of all the problems that emerged until the end of 1920s concerning the relationship between politics and culture. By going beyond superficial readings of his work, it is possible to identify that which is key for intellectuals as they carry out their specific role as citizens. In fact, along with the process of democratization, various forms of so-called ‘active citizenship’ have appeared. It is right to collocate, among them, intellectuals’ actions, when are invested, with a sense of responsibility, in the pursuit of the defence and development of common goods.