L’intel·lectual i la massa

Abstract

In 1890 in The Laws of imitation, Gabriel Tarde, considered to be une of the founders uf modern sociology, laid out his theory that the behavior of man in society is regulated by imitation and counter-imitation. In 1930, following a similar line of thought, Ortega and Gasset published The Rebellion of the Masses, a fundamental book on contemporary philosophy, which was attacked by certain sectors and highly praised by writers of such stature as Thomas Mann and Albert Camus. Ortega's book, which described the loss of authority of the intellectual elite, has more than one point in common with The Treason of the Intellectuals, an important essay written in 1927 by the French philosopher Julien Benda, which reproaches the intellectuals for their refusal to moderate the passions of the masses and for forgetting the eternal values of truth and reason. This article explains the connection between these three books and shows them to be the ideal instrument to describe the current information society and the role that intellectuals should play in it.