Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg: The evolution of intellectualism
Intellectualism has transformed over time. At static points in history, the definition of an intellectual has complemented the technologies and ideologies of the time. For example, the post-war period and beyond was characterised by male-centric, upper class academics. However, by comparing modern definitions and examples of intellectuals to the post-war period, it is clear that increased gender parity, education and the internet have transformed the meaning of intellectualism and the archetypal intellectual. A modern intellectual is represented by Greta Thunberg, a climate activist from Sweden.
Since his prominence in the public domain grew during the post-war period, the natural historian Sir David Attenborough represents the stereotypical definition of an intellectual. However, he aligns with the evolution of the intellectual and by doing so, he is comparable to Greta Thunberg. Both represent the embedded intellectual archetype defined by Thijssen as “maintaining intellectualism through interaction with those who are not intellectuals”, thus achieving horizontal authority.
Intellectualism: A dynamic concept
The definition of intellectualism has been debated throughout modern history. Sartre defined the intellectual as a knowledgeable, solitary figure who investigates that which does not concern him. This definition links to Thijssen’s own definition, describing an archetypal authoritative intellectual possessing superior general knowledge without expert status, such as Sartre himself. Levy defines the intellectual as “truth, reason and justice itself”, describing the intellectual’s spread of knowledge which (s)he deems to be truthful in the pursuit of justice. Alternatively, Ory and Sirenelli define the intellectual as a social community incorporating its own methodologies and knowledge networks.
Leymarie (2008) characterises intellectualism, stating that an intellectual is:
“a man — more often than a woman — master of the spoken word and familiar with the written, whose job is to think, and who, from outside the political world, speaks on behalf of values in public debate, formulates its terms and its implications, and has — or claims to have — the vocation of the universal”.
Leymarie’s definition suggests that intellectualism is a male-dominated concept, which juxtaposes its vocational universalism. Intellectuals are viewed as external to politics, yet their involvement in public debate is imperative to their role. This idea concurs with Sartre who suggested that intellectuals become involved in what does not concern them, notably politics. Similarly to Leymarie , Thijssen defines the intellectual as a passionate inventor of ideas, utilising language to capture the world’s attention whilst mobilising change across society. In accordance with Sartre, Thijssen states that the individual values their independence of thought as a singular figure, however, the very nature of intellectual engagement with public manifestoes or online petitions of the modern day indicates that intellectuals are also a community, as alluded to by Ory and Sirenelli. This implies that the sole intellectual gains collective change through collaboration with the public.
Interestingly, Thijssen outlines three archetypal intellectuals: authoritative, professional and embedded intellectuals. Authoritative intellectuals are characterised by superior general knowledge, whilst professional intellectuals are characterised by superior specific knowledge. However, both possess vertical authority over their public which has been difficult to sustain in the modern era due to an educated public. Thus, this has given rise to the embedded intellectual who maintains intellectualism through interaction with those who are not intellectuals. They build public and political support to mobilise further research, whilst public engagement acts as a direct input into knowledge creation. The embedded intellectual represents the dynamic transformation of intellectualism. This has been exemplified by Greta Thunberg, a climate activist from Sweden, as well as David Attenborough who, despite conforming to the traditional view of intellectualism, has moved with the transformation of the intellectual.
Thijssen also characterises the intellectual by a certain degree of egocentrism, epitomized by the Dreyfusards who believed that defending one man would be defending all human rights. Class has defined intellectuals in the past as the upper class typically acquire the role of an intellectual; the particularism of their class juxtaposing the universal notions which they aim to spread amongst the formerly non-intellectual public. Unlike Leymarie, Thijssen recognised that the intellectual is not a university-educated male, but rather the modern intellectual represents the product of transformation in intellectualism- like Attenborough and Thunberg.
In terms of Attenborough and Thunberg’s respective European countries, Attenborough’s UK has contributed to the development of intellectuals, regardless of definition. The earliest record of the English noun “intellectual” is dated to the 19th century, where Byron states ‘I wish I may be well enough to listen to these intellectuals’. This relates to the definitions outlined above as intellectuals were masters of the spoken word, thus people wanted to listen to them. The Dreyfus Affair in France signified the emergence of the ‘public intellectual’, a phrase quickly adopted in an English context. If intellectualism is defined by Ory and Sirenelli as a community, the prestigious universities of Oxford and Cambridge have contributed to intellectualism within the academic sphere. This type of intellectual relates to the archetypal professional intellectual as described by Thijssen, who embodies superior specific knowledge which leads to niche networks of intellectuals. Thus, the UK has a long-standing history with intellectualism based on classist and male-centric academic networks encompassing intellectuals who are university-educated. Although Attenborough could be classified as a professional intellectual through common characteristics, he represents an intellectual who has surpassed the static boundaries of the stereotype. Instead Attenborough has broken the boundaries of intellectualism. His career has been characterised by dynamism, exemplified by his innovations in documentary-making and a change in focus from the natural world to climate change as it becomes a more important issue.
Alternatively in Sweden, the intellectual was characterised by left-wing politics following the second world war, where the governing SAP recruited popular left-wing academics during the ‘Golden Age’ era of intellectualism in Europe. In the 1960s, left-wing intellectuals redefined the meaning of an intellectual, shaping the concept by morality and ideology. This was linked to social movements during this period. According to Ljunggren, Swedish intellectuals related their work to ordinary people, thus embedding themselves within the public. These attitudes of intellectualism in Sweden perfectly represent the activism of Greta Thunberg who has mobilised social movements, her attitude mirroring that of the left-wing intellectualism which has defined her country for decades. Although Thunberg differs from stereotypical conceptualisations of intellectualism, she represents what it means to be an intellectual in her country which suggests that she may differ from Attenborough due to the differences in intellectualism between their respective countries.
Sir David Attenborough:
Sir David Attenborough is a 94 year old male natural historian, broadcaster, author and multi-award winning documentary maker from the UK. His earlier work focussed on the natural world, whilst his more recent work grasps the challenges of climate change. He became Cambridge-educated after winning a scholarship to Clare College in 1945. By 2013, he had achieved 32 honorary degrees from British universities, more than any other person. He began his career at the BBC in the 1950s which spanned across several decades where he became a prominent broadcaster, before assembling a ground-breaking body of documentaries on the natural world. In addition to his influence as a broadcaster and innovating the documentary-making process, he has written twenty nine books and has achieved numerous awards and recognition, notably receiving a knighthood in 1985.
In 1936, Attenborough was inspired by the intellectualism of Archibald Delaney, a now controversial conservationist, at a lecture at De Montfort Hall in Leicester. Intrigued by Delaney’s passion for the environment and his warnings of ecological disaster, Attenborough pursued his childhood interests in the natural world as an educational path at Cambridge University. Ecological degradation was not a universal idea at the time, yet Attenborough has mobilised these ideas universally through his documentaries and books, as well as building a strong rapport with the British public. This represents the intellectual as defined by Ory and Sirenelli as intellectualism encompasses a social community, within which Delaney inspired Attenborough. The fact that Attenborough was merely 11 years old when he attended Delaney’s lecture represents his existing interest in the natural world, suggesting that intellectualism is not bounded by age but by accessibility. As Attenborough’s father worked as a principal at University College, Leicester, accessibility to intellectual discussions was enabled through the academic networks within the university. In addition, his prestigious education at Cambridge University compounded his accessibility to archetypal ‘professional intellectual’ networks, relating to the preconceived notion of intellectualism by Leymarie as a male-centric, university educated individual.
Attenborough has also mastered the spoken and written word through his array of documentaries and books, documenting a lifetime of environmental research and innovation in documentary-making. During the 1950s, his career move to the BBC came at a critical point in intellectualism as televisions appeared in homes across the UK. This form of mass media was effective at reaching the ‘virtual’ public, but Attenborough moved from broadcasting to documentary making in the 1970s due to his passion for connecting the public with the natural world through documentaries. As defined by Thijssen, Attenborough represents an intellectual due to his passionate display of knowledge through visual media, thus spreading word to the masses. Unlike egocentric public intellectuals who used the media for personal gain, such as Bernard-Henri Levy in France, Attenborough avoided time in front of the camera. Instead he opted for narration as he made his subjects in the natural world the focus of his documentaries. This opposes the egocentrism of intellectualism suggested by Thijssen as Attenborough focuses on sharing intellectualism with the public, thus representing the ‘embedded intellectual’ archetype.
Greta Thunberg:
Greta Thunberg is an 18 year old student and environmental activist from Sweden who gained international renown through her school climate strikes outside the Rikstag, ultimately named ‘Fridays for Future’. Her activism spread via social media and she gained international media attention within a week of her first social media post. Her role as an activist evolved from solitary protests to a climate movement, mobilising her followers through social media and several speeches. Her speech during the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP24) in 2018 went viral, as did her speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019, where she stated:
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Her speech, spoken in words which broke the boundaries between non-intellectuals and intellectuals, were exclaimed passionately in the pursuit of justice for current and future generations, in recognition of the political failings in the climate movement occurring globally. Through her speech, Thunberg exemplifies Leymarie’s definition of an intellectual by mastering the spoken word in the public debate on climate change, catering for the universal nature of the public by speaking with emotion whilst omitting the use of niche technical language. It must be highlighted that Thunberg also contradicts Leymarie’s definition of an intellectual, as she is a woman who has established herself as a dominant international environmental activist. This represents the transformation of intellectualism as it progresses from male-centrism to a degree of gender neutrality. Although Attenborough is a male intellectual which embodies the previous stereotype of an intellectual, he also exemplifies Leymarie’s definition of an intellectual in alternate ways by harnessing the spoken and written word through his documentaries and books on the natural world. This is where Thunberg and Attenborough are comparable through their mobilisation of the spoken word. Like Thunberg, Attenborough adopts language in his narrations which is understandable to the wider public, leading to the development of a cult-like following amongst younger generations. By affording the general public accessibility to intellectual knowledge and debate through simplified language and powerful emotion, both Thunberg and Attenborough have mobilised the public on important climatic issues and thus, can be classified as embedded intellectuals.
Regarding the written word, Attenborough has excelled by writing twenty nine books, whilst Thunberg has written one short book, contributed to another book, and has mobilised her followers through spoken word on social media. Attenborough has harnessed the written word to a more academically advanced level than Thunberg through the breadth and depth of his written publications, however, it must be noted that Greta is at the beginning of her activism work - she will undoubtedly contribute more to literature in the future. Thunberg matches multiple definitions of an intellectual by mobilising the public through written word on social media. If this is the type of written word which grasps public attention in the modern day, it could be argued that Thunberg is a portrayal of modern universal intellectualism which has been defined by the development of social media.
Both Thunberg and Attenborough have received international support. In 2019, 224 academics signed an open letter in support of her climate strikes. Her support from academics is comparable to Attenborough, who gained the trust of scientists that allowed him to feature their subjects in his documentaries. Both Thunberg and Attenborough have collaborated with the intellectual community, linking to the definition of the intellectual by Ory and Sirenelli. However, one could suggest that Attenborough is a long-standing member of an intellectual community whereas Thunberg is only just establishing herself in the new intellectual sphere, so her community is likely to expand to the size of Attenborough’s in time. The scope of her intellectual community could be larger than Attenborough’s through the widespread nature of social media, although Attenborough’s cult-like following amongst the younger generations has been mobilised by spreading the popularity of his documentaries on social media and streaming services such as Netflix. This is likely to be an intergenerational influence, where parents and grandparents have told their children about Attenborough as he acts as an intergenerational figurehead, making him even more influential. Even Thunberg has been influenced by Attenborough, their recent collaboration on a documentary together epitomising Ory and Sirenelli’s definition of an intellectual community.
Thunberg has also been critiqued by multiple world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, ranging from personal attacks to a critique of Thunberg’s ‘oversimplification’ of the climate crisis. Through the development of intellectualism as a more fluid notion, an intellectual is no longer defined by a high degree of education, or an older age which typically correlates with the former. Therefore, unlike Attenborough, Thunberg has been critiqued more harshly due to the anonymity associated with social media critique, a lesser education due to her young age and discrimination against her disability. Despite unnecessary critique, she has continued to speak up for climate justice has set her apart from traditional intellectualism for bridging the gap between knowledge and emotion.
Intellectualism transformed
The intellectual has transformed from an unobtainable figurehead to a fluid notion made accessible to the public by social media. The technology and ideology of the time period or country in question have changed what it means to be an intellectual. Despite being vastly different ages and coming from different countries, Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough are both embedded intellectuals who have maintained their intellectualism by interacting with those who are not intellectuals themselves. By doing this, they have been able to spread their ideas across the masses through both spoken and written word by using the mass media that were dominant in their respective time periods; for Attenborough, television and for Thunberg, social media.
The evolution of intellectualism in the context of climate change is key — the effects of climate change are universal, disproportionately affecting the population and ecological systems in the ‘Global South’. If we are to mitigate the effects of climate change, protect our scarce resources and pursue climate justice, the intellectual sphere must adopt universalism to connect with those who are not intellectuals themselves. If intellectualism can evolve from male-centricism, egocentricism and classism into a concept of universalism in the context of climate change, we can explore universal solutions and justice.
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