Tyler Cowen — The five most influential public intellectuals?

A few of you have been demanding this, here are those who come to mind, note that “influence” does not have to mean I agree with them. And I am sticking with the West, otherwise Uncle Xi wins hands down.

Marginal Revolution
The five most influential public intellectuals?
Tyler Cowen | Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center

My quick list in no particular order. I do not limit myself geographically.

1. Xi Jinping (Xi Jinping Thought)

2. Noam Chomsky (huge output over decades spanning many fields)

3. Alexander Dugin (large output and premier Eurasian thinker)

4. Pope Francis (encyclicals, pronouncements)

5. Jürgen Habermas (large output and influence of critical theory)

The chief intellectual challenge of the day in my view is the ending of Modernity and the rise of Post Modernity. These thinkers realize that are standing on the bridge, attempting to bridge the gap in this transition rather than burn it down by jettisoning Modernity for Post Modernity, or build a wall to preserve Modernity.

Xi Jinping and Pope Francis have bully pulpits as well as wide influence not only in their communities but world wide. What they think and say will shape the world as a matter of course. Each speaks for an ancient tradition that is faced with bridging the gap between the past and future.

Noam Chomsky, Alexander Dugin, and Jürgen Habermas are not only influential owing to their output and connections but also because of the wide range of the thinkers that influenced them and to whom that have reacted. So in a sense they speak for and against many more than themselves.

Tages Anzeiger — 100 Top Global Thought Leaders 2014

Predominantly liberal.

Pope Francis is the most influential thinker of today. Until 13 March last year he was still known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio and had little worldwide influence as an Argentinian cardinal. Close on his heels is the ‘Internet Pope’ Tim Berners-Lee. The number of researchers and scientists from the USA and Europe is striking, as is their age. Among the top ten, there are only two persons under 60. And only two women, which is less than could have been expected from their representation of 37% in the top 100.

It is also interesting that the economists who were once the centre of public attention have lost ground since the world economic crisis of 2008. The two best-placed economists don’t stand for highly competitive positions in debates on tax and economy; they stand for value-orientated discourse: Amartya Sen (rank 3) and Muhammad Yunus (rank 5) are both pioneers in the fight against poverty.

The fact that discourse about values is more important than debates on the economy or technology can be seen by the ranking of philosophers (an increase from 6 to 10 representatives in the top 100) and theologians – including the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in rank 19. The relationship between state and religion has become a hot topic, particularly due to Islam. In the Catholic Church, too, a whole host of new debates was triggered by the appointment of the new Pope.…

Tages Anzeiger
100 Top Global Thought Leaders 2014

Robert Jensen — American Intellectuals' Widespread Failure to Stand Up to Billionaires and Authoritarian Power

The majority of intellectual work in the U.S. is actually helping to prop up our unjust distribution of wealth and power....

My argument is that if we take seriously the basic moral principles at the core of modern philosophical and theological systems we claim to believe in, in light of the data on social injustice and the serious threats to ecological sustainability, these questions should be central in the work of intellectuals. Based on my experience as a journalist, professor, and political activist—a life in which I have always worked in intellectual professions and interacted with many other intellectuals in various settings—I have learned that the story is complicated but that a sharp critique of intellectuals as a social formation is warranted.

AlterNet
American Intellectuals' Widespread Failure to Stand Up to Billionaires and Authoritarian Power
Robert Jensen | Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Director of the Senior Fellows Honors Program of the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin

I'm not sure that the problem is with the lack of public intellectuals speaking out but rather of their opportunity to be heard in a propagandistic media environment that biases the debate by excluding or marginalizing opposing views. Without the Internet most of these voices would go almost completely unheard. But owing to the selective structure of the Internet, most political communication is preaching to the choir in stead of public debate. Public debate in national media is largely controlled by vested interests where "fair and balanced" is a meaningless slogan at best and for the most part is double-speak.

See also Andrew Leonard, Would We Be Better Off Without the Internet? at Alternet and Robert J. Samuelson, Beware the Internet and the danger of cyberattacks, at the Washington Post.

Samuelson:

If I could, I would repeal the Internet. It is the technological marvel of the age, but it is not — as most people imagine — a symbol of progress. Just the opposite. We would be better off without it. I grant its astonishing capabilities.... But the Internet’s benefits are relatively modest compared with previous transformative technologies, and it brings with it a terrifying danger: cyberwar....

By cyberwarfare, I mean the capacity of groups — whether nations or not — to attack, disrupt and possibly destroy the institutions and networks that underpin everyday life.... So much depends on the Internet that its vulnerability to sabotage invites doomsday visions of the breakdown of order and trust.