The Tragedy of Knowledge: Elites, Intellectuals, and Cultural Crisis 3700-AL-TKEI-qDP

The course investigates the entangled roles of political elites, intellectuals, and cultural actors during moments of political upheaval and democratic transition. Drawing on political theory, history, literature, and sociology, the course explores how knowledge and cultural authority are constructed, challenged, and often endangered when societies face existential shifts—whether through revolution, populist revolt, war, or systemic collapse. At its core lies the question: What is the fate of knowledge and cultural capital when the structures of power are destabilized?
The course traces the historical evolution of the intellectual as a public figure, from the Enlightenment and the formation of modern national elites to the twentieth-century totalitarian regimes and post-authoritarian societies of Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. Through the works of thinkers such as Antonio Gramsci, Hannah Arendt, Czesław Miłosz, Václav Havel, and Milan Kundera, students will explore the pressures faced by cultural and intellectual elites under dictatorship, occupation, or ideological extremism. At the same time, the course examines how artists, writers, and public intellectuals have resisted these forces—through dissent, exile, silence, or symbolic action.
A key focus is placed on the ambivalence of intellectuals as both insiders and outsiders in systems of power: admired for their insight, yet frequently distrusted or attacked as out-of-touch elites. We will explore the populist rejection of expertise and culture, the weaponization of memory and trauma in democratic narratives, and the use of art and literature as both tools of political resistance and mechanisms of cultural survival. The course also considers the contemporary relevance of these dynamics: the rise of anti-intellectual populism, the crisis of liberal elites, and the vulnerability of truth in a media-saturated public sphere.
While the geographic emphasis centers on Central and Eastern Europe—including Ukraine, Poland, and the former Czechoslovakia—comparative cases from Latin America, South Africa, and the Global North will offer broader insights into the global fate of cultural authority in turbulent times. Throughout the course, students will engage with texts both theoretical and literary, combining close reading, historical inquiry, and critical reflection.
By the end of the course, students will have developed a nuanced understanding of how culture, knowledge, and political legitimacy intersect in the formation and deformation of democratic societies. They will be encouraged to think critically about the role of intellectuals in today’s world, and to consider whether the “tragedy of knowledge” is an enduring condition—or a challenge still worth confronting.