Abstract
The idea of the public intellectual arises concurrently with the Enlightenment. Another way of understanding this historical fact is to say that the public intellectual arises at the same time that science begins to become the foundation for society & for understanding society. The pre-modern, & especially the classical world, did not lack philosophers, & intellectuals such as Cicero & Marcus Aurelius played an important role in public life. However, they did not hold their public role because they were intellectuals. It is not until the Enlightenment, until there were concerted efforts to make the fruits of science & philosophy generally known to the public, that the role of the public intellectual could be imagined & filled by such as Voltaire, Diderot, & Neckar. D. Knaff