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whereas Lasch claims that “people lose the capacity to use lan-
guage precisely and expressively, or even to distinguish one word
from another”.36 This is a core subject. In fact, this impoverish-
ment, this difficult relationship between ‘public’ and words, or
‘public’ and language, means that the difficulty in creating a real
(not induced) public debate and in asking the right questions
largely depends on the fact that people know less and less ‘how’
to debate and ‘how’ to ask questions.
The academic system should be concerned about these prob-
lems; however the academic language often tends to be very spe-
cialized: instead of opening up to a solution, it manages to exclude
the non-professional public.37 This fact, which apparently subverts
common sense, could be explained, according to Lasch, essentially
because
they [the academic system, particularly Left-wing academics]
defend their incomprehensible jargon as the language of ‘subver-
sion’, plain speech having been dismissed as an instrument of
oppression. The language of ‘clarity’, they maintain, plays a domi -
nant role in a culture that cleverly and powerfully uses ‘clear’ and
‘simplistic’ language to systematically undermine complex and
critical thinking.38
On one hand – as Lasch concludes his argument – the over-special-
ized academic language could reinforce the academic self-image; on
the other hand it produces a gap between scholars and ordinary
people. Due to its self-isolationism the academic world risks miss-
ing out on opportunities to create public debate and, as a conse-
quence, any criticism of the dominant elite.39
As regards the previous question on the survival of democracy
Lasch’s answer is obviously yes, democracy deserves to survive. The
INTELLECTUALS BETWEEN DISSOCIATION AND DISSENTING
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36 Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites, p. 175.
37 On this matter, Claudio Giunta, with particular reference to the Italian humanistic academia,
maintains that “in the last fifty years scholars have competed in creating the most abstruse jar-
gon […] Being incomprehensible it has become synonymous with profundity and scientific seri-
ousness.” Claudio Giunta, L’assedio del presente, p. 134 (see footnote 24). The translation from
Italian is mine.
38 Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites, p. 178.
39 Ibid, p. 179.
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