Chapter 12 Chapter Four: The Image of Intellectuals in Contemporary Literature and Their Writings

Answering this question is obviously urgent and difficult.Everyone who takes literature as his mission and destiny does not consider himself an intellectual, but what exactly is an intellectual?What kind of conditions should intellectuals possess?What kind of intellectual writing is needed in this day and age?These questions are the clouds and mist entangled in the minds of writers today.The several literary dialogues and debates since the 1980s have basically started and ended on such topics as what is a real intellectual and what an intellectual should be.Obviously, we must answer this question.

However, it is difficult to answer this question.Considering the history of mankind, intellectuals have existed since ancient times, but it is difficult to know when the proper term "intellectuals" was separated from the public and endowed with special meanings.For China, the word "intellectual" is actually a foreign word.Scholar Chen Mingyuan recently published the book "Intellectuals and the Age of Renminbi", he said: "According to the author's research, in the discourse system (vocabulary) of modern Chinese, the term 'intellectuals' appeared around 1925, and Gradually became popular after 1928. If we say that the collective term "intellectual class" had a positive meaning when it first appeared a few years ago, then the term "intellectuals" was initially derogatory. The earliest The users are Qu Qiubai, Mao Zedong and Hu Shi.”(1)

Is it possible to say this: at the beginning of the last century and throughout the first half of the century, the roles, functions and numbers of Chinese intellectuals have changed, causing "intellectuals" to emerge in history.In fact, this is also true. During that period, intellectuals took on important tasks such as saving the souls of Chinese people (such as Lu Xun and other New Culture Movements), reinterpreting society and systems (early communists), and most importantly, intellectuals in that period Become the most free person since the pre-Qin philosophers, reinterpret the world, reinterpret knowledge, thoroughly evaluate old knowledge and old intellectuals, rewrite humanity and history, and so on.Intellectuals became a group that could control history just like the army at that time. In essence, intellectuals were the group that really controlled history because they had the right to speak and interpret ideology.However, it was also at that time that the differentiation of intellectuals was prominent, which showed that intellectuals themselves were not a separate group or class, and intellectuals were also distinguished by differences in knowledge and social influence.Perhaps in the two thousand years after the Han Dynasty, the old intellectuals were only a branch of Confucianism, but at this time, old, new, Chinese-style, and Western-style intellectuals all existed, and they cannot be generalized.

"Modern Chinese Dictionary" defines intellectuals as "people who have a high level of education and engage in mental work. Such as scientists, teachers, doctors, reporters, engineers, etc." Mental workers of knowledge. Such as scientific and technological workers, literary and art workers, teachers, doctors, etc.” The above two explanations are obviously a neutral attitude, but in fact they secretly divide intellectuals into a class, that is, those with a certain status group.This explanation is tantamount to no explanation. In recent years, Yu Yingshi's concept of "scholar" has become more popular among Chinese intellectuals.He believes that "intellectuals" are equivalent to ancient "scholars". "Spring and Autumn?"Guliang Biography" says: "In ancient times, there were four peoples: there were scholars, merchants, farmers, and workers." "Hanshu?"Shihuo Zhi 1" says: "Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and the four people have jobs, and they learn to live in positions and are called scholars." He also believes that "scholars" have a sense of responsibility.However, the ancient "shi" also means warrior. "Don?"Six Classics" defines: "Anyone who studies civil and martial arts is a scholar." The definition of "shi" is also relatively broad.

The definition of intellectuals by Western scholars is narrow, far more targeted than that of Chinese scholars. The author of "The Betrayal of Intellectuals", the French philosopher Banda, has a great influence on the research and definition of intellectuals in the West.According to Banda, during the First World War, many intellectuals dressed up as youth mentors and spiritual leaders, took to the streets, or advocated racial differences, national supremacy, nationalism and class antagonism in teaching, classrooms and all public media Inciting popular "realist passions" that led to a series of deadly wars, he denounced this phenomenon as "the treachery of the intellectuals," that is, intellectuals betrayed intellectuals under the guise of racism, nationalism, and class struggle. The value of the numerator is ideal.Banda opposed the "Plato" type of intellectuals, and believed that secular political interests such as power would corrupt the conscience of intellectuals, so he advocated the image of intellectuals represented by Socrates and Jesus.Banda believes that intellectuals are always a very small number of people. They are the real owners of justice, conscience, truth, and rationality, and everyone else cannot be classified as intellectuals.Banda's critique of the intellectuals of that period was thorough, and this critique has had a great influence in the past nearly one hundred years.

Another person who has researched and criticized intellectuals is Said, the representative of post-colonialism.Said, who was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, went to study in the United States and became famous, stood on the opposite standpoint of Eurocentrism and expounded his "marginal" intellectual spirit. In fact, this is exactly the spirit of liberalism in Western culture. A spirit combined with a deep-seated anti-Eurocentrism within him.His theories have had a certain influence on Chinese intellectuals since the 1990s.From his "On Intellectuals", we can see the spirit of criticizing the reality of the West for hundreds of years inherited by post-colonial criticism. He pointed out that intellectuals should be idealists, social elites who go against the masses instead of conforming to them ;Intellectuals should set limits for the nation and tradition, transcend the narrow national and traditional cultural boundaries, and defend a transcendent universal value; Intellectuals should be eternal exiles and self-exiles in their hearts; Maintain an amateur attitude, that is, a marginal posture; intellectuals must be brave to criticize power, and always tell the truth to power; intellectuals should be an eternal doubter rather than a true believer.What we see here is the spirit of Nietzsche, but Said's intellectual standpoint is consistent with the inner spirit of his postcolonial theory.Said's position and spirit undoubtedly came as a surprise to the intellectuals who were in reflection in the 1990s.

Said stated in his book "On Intellectuals" that "intellectuals are neither mediators nor people who build consensus." Consciousness left and right and limited by official consciousness. If we take a closer look at Chinese intellectuals, especially literati groups since the 1990s, we will be surprised to find that the intellectual spirit advocated by Said has become a potential source of inspiration for young poets, writers, and literature lovers. Spirit, especially the posture, expression and declaration when they first stepped into the literary world.This point will be discussed in the following chapters.

In addition to the above two, I have to mention the intellectuals in the sense of Gramsci, who believes that everyone is an intellectual.He divides intellectuals into traditional ordinary intellectuals (these people are teachers, pastors, administrative officials, etc.) and special and organic intellectuals.The "organicity" of intellectuals lies in: first, disseminate knowledge to the public, especially non-academic people, and strengthen the emotional connection between intellectuals and the public; second, participate in the political practice of superstructure ideology construction and social power.

From the theories of the above three people, we can see that intellectuals have different spiritual dimensions due to their different roles and meanings in society.From this simple comparison, it is not difficult to see that Banda and Said are actually in the same line, or have a common spirit. They both emphasize the free spirit, critical spirit and sense of responsibility of intellectuals, which seems to be exactly what Gulen The opposite of West.Gramsci's theory has been widely cited in the theories of intellectuals in China since the 1990s, but in fact, Gramsci generalizes and generalizes intellectuals, simplifies the spiritual dimension of intellectuals, and puts knowledge The sense of hierarchy and mission of the molecule dissolves.The widespread intrusion of popular culture in China and the expansion of intellectuals' desire for power are secretly related to this intellectual concept.In China, Gramsci's intellectual stance has always been an attitude held by Chinese intellectuals, but there is a lack of independent, free and critical intellectuals in the sense of Banda and Said.

Some people say that intellectuals in the sense of Banda and Said are outdated. The reason is very simple. Critics say that they are opposing intellectuals to the government and the broadest group of intellectuals. Such remarks are outdated. .Critics naturally appreciate Gramsci, but in fact, in today's rampant mass culture, the rare free intellectuals with elite consciousness have become the standard of the times, even the conscience of the times. So, how should we re-understand what an intellectual is?How should we confirm and divide the spiritual dimension of intellectuals? While emphasizing the universality of human nature, mass intellectuals oppose the lofty, ultimate value, and spiritual dimension of intellectuals, and believe that there is no fundamental difference between intellectuals and ordinary people.This argument has a broad alliance among today's intellectuals, especially writers who reflect human nature.This is an important reason why Chinese literature lacks spiritual resources.In fact, whether it is now or in the past, what China has always lacked is truly free intellectuals.Under the feudal society and patriarchal ideology, intellectuals either attach themselves to the "parents" and become the spokespersons and interpreters of the "parents" and "patriarchal" culture, or remain silent.Intellectuals have long lost their inherent spirit of exploring world truths, interpreting and defending public knowledge. From the very beginning, intellectuals tended to be rich and powerful based on the utilitarian attitude of "studying and becoming an official". A secular, utilitarian, and sycophant group has lost its spiritual dimension.

To distinguish what an intellectual is, one must first distinguish knowledge.Lao Tzu and Socrates set an example for us in this respect.Lao Tzu said: "Tao can be Tao, it is very Tao; name can be named, it is very famous." Socrates made it more clear. He said that knowledge has popular knowledge and eternal knowledge. People need to distinguish which is eternal and which is eternal. Only after it becomes popular can we know the truth.Famous scholars and Mohists in the pre-Qin period also had many debates about "name" and "truth". Where does knowledge come from?Socrates thought it was divine, even his death was divine, so in his view, everything is eternal and sacred.Jesus made it all religious.That is, in their view, a lot of knowledge about the world is sacred, eternal, valuable, and certain.But Chinese intellectuals are not like that.Although Laozi also believes that there is eternal knowledge, which is Tao, other than that, it is all popular knowledge. "Being" comes from "nothing". Therefore, in Lao Tzu's view, knowledge also comes from nothing, and knowledge changes.Confucius believed that knowledge is inherited, inherited from generation to generation.Of course, Confucius also believed that some people "know it from birth", but he didn't say what kind of person such a person is, at least he himself is not such a person.He acquires knowledge by study and practice. Some scholars in the Han Dynasty believed that the theory of the "five elements" was given by the gods, because there was such knowledge engraved on the back of the tortoise.However, some scholars also criticized this understanding, arguing that "Yin-Yang" and "Five Elements" were inherited from the predecessors and obtained from the experience of the predecessors. At least the theory of "Five Elements" was the Dafa in the Xia Dynasty. In fact, there is a basic consensus in the academic circles today, that is, knowledge is firstly experience.This kind of experience is some public experience obtained on the basis of repeated practice, that is, public knowledge.In ancient times, the so-called prophets were actually old people who had these public experiences.Name these common experiences and make logical reasoning to generate new knowledge.Those public experiences are actually what we call common sense.Because of the spread, in ancient times, there were very few people who could have these public experiences.These public experiences are then combined with individual experiences to produce individual knowledge.Therefore, knowledge here is first divided into public knowledge and individual knowledge.However, in the development and dissemination of knowledge, when public knowledge, that is, common sense, is accepted by people, public knowledge will be integrated into life by itself, as if it disappears, and the rest is individual knowledge.These individual knowledge will become public knowledge at a certain stage.For example, most of the individual knowledge experiences of Lao Tzu and Confucius became a kind of public knowledge after being disseminated and accepted. But why do we often feel that their individuality also exists?The reason is that this publicity transcends common sense, it becomes an essence.Also because of the memory of history in communication. After the generation of knowledge, the masters of knowledge, that is, intellectuals, begin to appear in the society during the dissemination and function, and their roles change in different periods.According to this change and the resulting role, intellectuals can be divided into the following categories: 1. Elite intellectuals.Standing on the mainstream value standpoint of society, criticize the old values ​​and order, and establish new values ​​and ethics.With an independent view of knowledge, value theory and clear consciousness, its critical spirit comes from the eternity of knowledge and moral conscience, and its construction spirit comes from trust and passion for the times and society.They often play a leading role in the dissemination and application of knowledge.Such as Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Plato, Kant and so on.They spread their ideas through education, and had a certain social status in the society at that time, trying to cooperate with the government to realize their ambitions.They are often cultural heroes in the sense of nationalism and nationalism.However, in the early days, they were often also likely to be liberal intellectuals, that is, not recognized by the mainstream consciousness, or hovering on the fringes of the mainstream consciousness.Some of the special intellectuals mentioned by Gramsci are elite intellectuals.In fact, elite intellectuals still have an elite consciousness in their hearts after all, and it is his elite consciousness that determines his cultural standpoint and posture. 2. Free intellectuals.They often stand on the edge or even the opposite of mainstream values, and independently criticize social popular values.They tend to be individualists, but can also be nationalists and statists in contrast to the prevailing nationalisms and statisms.Such as Socrates, Jesus, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Huizi and so on.Early Confucius, Mozi, Plato, etc. all had the consciousness of some free intellectuals, and later became elite intellectuals with the change of their status and consciousness in society.The same goes for Socrates and Jesus, who were more involved in folk activities in the early days and were incompatible with mainstream values. However, with the spread of their ideas, they (after death) were included in mainstream values, and even directly became a mainstream value.There are very few truly independent and permanently free intellectuals.Even though Lao-Zhuang’s thoughts have always been regarded as the opposite of mainstream values, they are still absorbed by mainstream values ​​and become a vassal of mainstream values.Free intellectuals have always maintained their independent and decisive free attitude because of the reasons of the times, but deep down they still hope to be recognized by the world and become a mainstream value.The intellectual stance that Banda and Said insisted on was actually such a liberal attitude. 3. Popular intellectuals.They are neither high-level elite consciousness nor willing to become marginal consciousness, they are mass-type intellectuals in the middle state.What they advocate is the intermediate state of human nature, or the prevailing state of mainstream values. In short, they are the inventors or promoters of all popular culture.In the past, they were often representatives of Confucianism, that is, the "scholar" class, and they were the backbone of the three religions and nine streams.Today, they are the advocates or part of all mass culture.They also have a certain sense of responsibility, but this sense of responsibility will easily change with different fortunes.The vast majority of officials, media people, university professors, and artists belong to this type.The vast majority of the traditional intellectuals mentioned by Gramsci belong to this kind of people. 4. Knowledgeable people.This is formed by the common sense and specialization characteristics of knowledge.The common sense of knowledge makes some intellectuals form an unconscious state of existence, while the specialization of knowledge makes some intellectuals engaged in professional work lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong and value.This type of intellectuals may have a wealth of knowledge, and even have professional skills that others do not have, but their souls are numb, and they have lost the value care that intellectuals should have.Today, such people are some university professors, researchers, officials and disseminators of folk knowledge.There are more and more such people in today's metropolises.This is the disintegration of values ​​brought about by the specialization and desire of intellectuals that Said criticized. Of course, we cannot simply define who is what type of intellectual from the very beginning, because a person's life is often switched between the ordinary and the special, the secular and the sacred, the individual and the collective, just as the Confucianism advocates. "If you have the Tao, you will show it, if you don't have the Tao, you will hide it", you can "live at the height of the temple", care about and build the main world, or "live at the far end of the rivers and lakes" to elucidate free will.In the spiritual world of Chinese intellectuals, the two spirits of being active in the world and detached from the world are always intertwined.From a historical perspective, there is no fully free intellectual.This kind of freedom will always become the mainstream consciousness in a certain era.Nor are there intellectuals born into the elite.Elite intellectuals are not immune to vulgarity, but as far as their mature consciousness is concerned, their dominant spirit is elite consciousness. This division can not only avoid the confrontation between intellectuals and the public by Banda and Said, but also avoid the mechanical division of intellectuals by Gramsci.Intellectuals must have a division of spiritual dimensions, otherwise, intellectuals will become machines and "knowledgeable elements".