The term “public intellectual” is not a term that the average person is familiar with. In fact, if you ask most Americans outside of academia to give an example of a figure who would be classified as a public intellectual, more likely than not, they would be speechless. As hard as it may be for those outside of academia to describe a public intellectual, it has been proven to be equally as hard within academia to create a layout of the traits a public intellectual must possess. With many different scholars arguing for different traits, it’s not exactly clear what the broader layout should be. However, it can be agreed that the public intellectual is someone who actively participates in the public-affairs discourse of society alongside their own academic or professional work. These are individuals who are not only able to pinpoint the problems within society, but are courageous and outspoken individuals who take effective measures to respond to such problems in an effort to better the society that they live in. Whether they are lawyers, engineers, clerics, or professors, these individuals take pride in holding up a mirror to the institutions responsible for the holes present.
The Nation sponsored a panel discussion on the issue of the public intellectual in which John Donatich voiced his concern for what he argued was the decline of the public intellectual. Donatich argued that our mere worry in regards to the future of the public intellectual concludes in itself that the public intellectual is in indeed endangered; a species that we were once privileged to live with, is now in decline, due to the American tradition of “anti-intellectualism.” He goes on to argue that the reason why the decline is so prevalent is because at this country’s core is a population that has been built on “headstrong individualism and the myth of self-reliance.”
Stephen Mack argues against Donatich’s notion that the common citizen is almost incapable of being an intellectual without the help of a class of experts by stating:
The Nation sponsored a panel discussion on the issue of the public intellectual in which John Donatich voiced his concern for what he argued was the decline of the public intellectual. Donatich argued that our mere worry in regards to the future of the public intellectual concludes in itself that the public intellectual is in indeed endangered; a species that we were once privileged to live with, is now in decline, due to the American tradition of “anti-intellectualism.” He goes on to argue that the reason why the decline is so prevalent is because at this country’s core is a population that has been built on “headstrong individualism and the myth of self-reliance.”
Stephen Mack argues against Donatich’s notion that the common citizen is almost incapable of being an intellectual without the help of a class of experts by stating:
So, is there any way of conceptualizing something called the public intellectual that is consistent with democratic values? Of course there is, but it needs to begin with a shift from “categories and class” to “function.” That is, our notions of the public intellectual need to focus less on who or what a public intellectual is—and by extension, the qualifications for getting and keeping the title. Instead, we need to be more concerned with the work public intellectuals must do, irrespective of who happens to be doing it.
What Mack is essentially arguing is that there needs to be less of an emphasis on who is doing the work in society and instead more of a focus on what work is being done. While Donatich allows credentials to be the main determining trait in the conversation about the public intellectual, Mack is more concerned about shifting the conversation to one that is focused on the functions of the public intellectual- most importantly what their role in society should be. Both Mack and Jean Bethke Elshtain argue for the disruption of the ideology that a Utopia exists within our society. Like “party poopers,” they both argue that the public intellectual’s should be focused on puncturing the “myth-makers” of any era.
It seems as if in some societies, such as the U.S., the role of the public intellectual is less problematic than others because of the degree of basic rights each society grants its people. Rising up in a country where freedom of speech is a notion that is non-existent, Shirin Ebadi has been able to break every boundary on a national as well as global scale. Living up to Elshtain’s standards, Shirin Ebad, the first Iranian woman to ever win the Noble Peace Prize, has been able to effectively puncture the mythologies that have been put forth by the myth-makers in her era.
Ebadi was originally born in Hamadan, Iran but moved to Tehran with her family when she was just an infant. Shirin’s family’s move was promoted by her father's desire to live in a city that would allow him to continue his own education as well as give his five kids the opportunity to do the same. He would later go on to become an author and a lecturer in commercial law. In her early life Ebadi attended Anoshiravn Dadgar and Reza Shah Kabir schools before earning a law degree, in only three and a half years, from the University of Tehran in 1969. Upon receiving her law degree, she sat the entrance exam for the Department of Justice and after a six month apprenticeship she became one of the first women to serve as a judge in Iran. It was during this time that Ebadi continued her education, with the support of her family, and also earned a doctorate in private law from the University of Tehran only to go on and serve as the head of the city court of Tehran from 1975-1979.
After the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the new leaders implemented a very extremist interpretation of Islam into all aspects of society which resulted in Ebadi's term as a judge being terminated because of her gender. A young Ebadi was both outspoken and courageous and her refusal to be completely shut out from the justice system prompted the city to allow them to serve as “experts”; Ebadi's demotion wasn’t something that she could accept and thus caused her to resign in protest. She did, however, use this time to teach human rights courses at her alma mater.
Upon returning to law, Ebadi focused on taking on civil rights cases with an emphasis on woman and children. She is best known for taking pro bono cases of dissidents who like her had run afoul of the Iranian government. Like the firecracker that she is, Ebadi represented the family of Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad who was killed in the Iranian student protests in 1999, and held government officials responsible for her death. She was found guilty of “disturbing public opinion" for which she served a three week sentence in jail and a five year suspension on her law license. Ebadi has been extremely proactive in the legal field and has taken on several cases of journalists and families who had been accused or sentenced in relation to freedom of expression. These cases included Habibollah Peyman for writing articles and delivering speeches on freedom of expression and Abbas Marufi, the editor-in-chief of the monthly Gardoun, for publishing several interviews and poems.
Alongside writing several books, taking on legal cases against the government, and drafting articles promoting a fight towards human rights, Ebadi has also been extremely socially active. Ebadi founded the Association for Support of Children’s rights in 1999, proposed to the Islamic Consultative Assembly to ratify a law on prohibiting all forms of violence against children (which was passed by the Iranian parliament in 2002), and established the Human Rights Defense Center in 2001. While her lists of accomplishments go on and on, it’s been her undying devotion that awarded her the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in “human rights and efforts for democracy.”
Although Ebadi herself is a practicing Muslim, she has never let her religious beliefs influence her to such a degree that her statements were rooted in anything but reason and evidence. While many argue that the “religious intellectual” cannot be a public intellectual because their religion clouds their judgments, Stephen Mack argues:
It seems as if in some societies, such as the U.S., the role of the public intellectual is less problematic than others because of the degree of basic rights each society grants its people. Rising up in a country where freedom of speech is a notion that is non-existent, Shirin Ebadi has been able to break every boundary on a national as well as global scale. Living up to Elshtain’s standards, Shirin Ebad, the first Iranian woman to ever win the Noble Peace Prize, has been able to effectively puncture the mythologies that have been put forth by the myth-makers in her era.
Ebadi was originally born in Hamadan, Iran but moved to Tehran with her family when she was just an infant. Shirin’s family’s move was promoted by her father's desire to live in a city that would allow him to continue his own education as well as give his five kids the opportunity to do the same. He would later go on to become an author and a lecturer in commercial law. In her early life Ebadi attended Anoshiravn Dadgar and Reza Shah Kabir schools before earning a law degree, in only three and a half years, from the University of Tehran in 1969. Upon receiving her law degree, she sat the entrance exam for the Department of Justice and after a six month apprenticeship she became one of the first women to serve as a judge in Iran. It was during this time that Ebadi continued her education, with the support of her family, and also earned a doctorate in private law from the University of Tehran only to go on and serve as the head of the city court of Tehran from 1975-1979.
After the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the new leaders implemented a very extremist interpretation of Islam into all aspects of society which resulted in Ebadi's term as a judge being terminated because of her gender. A young Ebadi was both outspoken and courageous and her refusal to be completely shut out from the justice system prompted the city to allow them to serve as “experts”; Ebadi's demotion wasn’t something that she could accept and thus caused her to resign in protest. She did, however, use this time to teach human rights courses at her alma mater.
Upon returning to law, Ebadi focused on taking on civil rights cases with an emphasis on woman and children. She is best known for taking pro bono cases of dissidents who like her had run afoul of the Iranian government. Like the firecracker that she is, Ebadi represented the family of Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad who was killed in the Iranian student protests in 1999, and held government officials responsible for her death. She was found guilty of “disturbing public opinion" for which she served a three week sentence in jail and a five year suspension on her law license. Ebadi has been extremely proactive in the legal field and has taken on several cases of journalists and families who had been accused or sentenced in relation to freedom of expression. These cases included Habibollah Peyman for writing articles and delivering speeches on freedom of expression and Abbas Marufi, the editor-in-chief of the monthly Gardoun, for publishing several interviews and poems.
Alongside writing several books, taking on legal cases against the government, and drafting articles promoting a fight towards human rights, Ebadi has also been extremely socially active. Ebadi founded the Association for Support of Children’s rights in 1999, proposed to the Islamic Consultative Assembly to ratify a law on prohibiting all forms of violence against children (which was passed by the Iranian parliament in 2002), and established the Human Rights Defense Center in 2001. While her lists of accomplishments go on and on, it’s been her undying devotion that awarded her the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in “human rights and efforts for democracy.”
Although Ebadi herself is a practicing Muslim, she has never let her religious beliefs influence her to such a degree that her statements were rooted in anything but reason and evidence. While many argue that the “religious intellectual” cannot be a public intellectual because their religion clouds their judgments, Stephen Mack argues:
One of the great ironies of this debate is that historically, public intellectuals in America are a product of both our secular and religious traditions. Indeed, our entire liberal, secular democratic tradition is an extension of our religious origins. The story begins in 1630, when a prosperous lawyer by the name of John Winthrop and a band of English Puritans left the security of their English homes, migrated to the new American wilderness. There they launched one of the most daring experiments in Christian civil government the old world had ever seen. The Colony at Massachusetts Bay was to be a place where, as Puritan historian Cotton Mather put it many years later, “we would have our posterity settled under the pure and full dispensation of the gospel; defended by rulers who should be ourselves.” Winthrop himself described his theocracy more poetically: “wee shall be as a citty upon a hill. The eies of all people are uppon us.” Winthrop’s phrase has echoed through nearly four centuries of American history—and acquired meanings that transcend even the lofty goals of that early Puritan colony. Presidents, poets—and public intellectuals--have invoked his words to remind Americans of something fundamental about themselves: that they are a people defined not by race, not by ethnicity, but by moral purpose.
Ebadi’s upbringing and her battle with the Iranian government has in fact allowed her to be critical of Iran’s interpretation of Islam. Her critical view of all things around her has allowed her to ground her work and statements in reason. In her book Iran Awakening, Ebadi argues:
In the last 23 years, from the day I was stripped of my judgeship to the years of doing battle in the revolutionary courts of Tehran, I had repeated one refrain: an interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with equality and democracy is an authentic expression of faith. It is not religion that binds women, but the selective dictates of those who wish them cloistered. That belief, along with the conviction that change in Iran must come peacefully and from within, has underpinned my work."
If anything, Ebadi’s interpretations of Islam have allowed her to become the public intellectual that she is because of the sense of moral obligation that it has made her feel. There has been not one instance in her work where her arguments were rooted in anything but logic, and driven by anything other than her love for humanity. The only t time that Ebadi really has mentioned religion has been when she has called for its correct interpretation by clerics. As a true advocate of gender equality and women’s rights, she promotes an Islam that is welcoming and accepting of these notions.
Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Noble Peace Prize because she rightfully deserves it. She has not only paved the way for women in Iran but women worldwide. Her love for her work is transparent in every stage of her work. From her books to her speeches, she is a fearless woman who is not afraid to say what’s on her mind in a country that’s tried to shut her up. In her 2013 speech at a Human Rights Day seminar at Leiden University, Ebadi angrily said “I will shut up but the problems of Iran will not be solved.” For many years she has held the mirror up to political and social institutions and it doesn’t seem like she’s going away any time soon.
Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Noble Peace Prize because she rightfully deserves it. She has not only paved the way for women in Iran but women worldwide. Her love for her work is transparent in every stage of her work. From her books to her speeches, she is a fearless woman who is not afraid to say what’s on her mind in a country that’s tried to shut her up. In her 2013 speech at a Human Rights Day seminar at Leiden University, Ebadi angrily said “I will shut up but the problems of Iran will not be solved.” For many years she has held the mirror up to political and social institutions and it doesn’t seem like she’s going away any time soon.