The First Top 100 Public Intellectuals of the World
Posted on May 12, 2008
Filed Under Personal Development
Foreign Policy and Britain’s Prospect magazine selected their top 100
Public Intellectuals, and invited readers to vote for their top 100.The majority of the names that I recognized in their top 100 list are lefties. However there is a criterion for writing in a candidate. The criteria are: “Although the men and women on this list are some of the world’s most sophisticated thinkers, the criteria to make the list could not be simpler. Candidates must be living and still active in public life. They must have shown distinction in their particular field as well as an ability to influence wider debate, often far beyond the borders of their own country.” This list is about public influence, not intrinsic achievement. And that is where things get really tricky. Judging influence is hard enough inside one’s own culture, but when you are peering across cultures and languages, the problem becomes far harder. Obviously our list of 100 has been influenced by where most of us sit, in the English-speaking West.
“Prospect and Foreign Policy” www.foreignpolicy.com
Voting ends on May 15. More than 20,000 people voted in this poll. See results below:
| Rank | Name | Occupation(s) | Country | Total
Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Noam Chomsky | Linguist, author, activist | United States | 4827 |
| 2. | Umberto Eco | Medievalist, novelist | Italy | 2464 |
| 3. | Richard Dawkins | Biologist, polemicist | Britain | 2188 |
| 4. | Václav Havel | Playwright, statesman | Czech Republic | 1990 |
| 5. | Christopher Hitchens | Polemicist | United States, Britain | 1844 |
| 6. | Paul Krugman | Economist, columnist | United States | 1746 |
| 7. | Jürgen Habermas | Philosopher | Germany | 1639 |
| 8. | Amartya Sen | Economist | India | 1590 |
| 9. | Jared Diamond | Biologist, physiologist, historian | United States | 1499 |
| 10. | Salman Rushdie | Novelist, political commentator | Britain, India | 1468 |
| 11. | Naomi Klein | Journalist, author | Canada | 1378 |
| 12. | Shirin Ebadi | Lawyer, human rights activist | Iran | 1309 |
| 13. | Hernando de Soto | Economist | Peru | 1202 |
| 14. | Bjørn Lomborg | Environmentalist | Denmark | 1141 |
| 15. | Abdolkarim Soroush | Religious theorist | Iran | 1114 |
| 16. | Thomas Friedman | Journalist, author | United States | 1049 |
| 17. | Pope Benedict XVI | Religious leader | Germany, Vatican | 1046 |
| 18. | Eric Hobsbawm | Historian | Britain | 1037 |
| 19. | Paul Wolfowitz | Policymaker, academic | United States | 1028 |
| 20. | Camille Paglia | Social critic, author | United States | 1013 |
| 21. | Francis Fukuyama | Political scientist, author | United States | 883 |
| 22. | Jean Baudrillard | Sociologist, cultural critic | France | 858 |
| 23. | Slavoj Zizek | Sociologist, philosopher | Slovenia | 840 |
| 24. | Daniel Dennett | Philosopher | United States | 832 |
| 25. | Freeman Dyson | Physicist | United States | 823 |
| 26. | Steven Pinker | Experimental psychologist | Canada, United States | 812 |
| 27. | Jeffrey Sachs | Economist | United States | 810 |
| 28. | Samuel Huntington | Political scientist | United States | 805 |
| 29. | Mario Vargas Llosa | Novelist, politician | Peru | 771 |
| 30. | Ali al-Sistani | Cleric | Iran, Iraq | 768 |
| 31. | E.O. Wilson | Biologist | United States | 742 |
| 32. | Richard Posner | Judge, scholar, author | United States | 740 |
| 33. | Peter Singer | Philosopher | Australia | 703 |
| 34. | Bernard Lewis | Historian | Britain, United States | 660 |
| 35. | Fareed Zakaria | Journalist, author | United States | 634 |
| 36. | Gary Becker | Economist | United States | 630 |
| 37. | Michael Ignatieff | Writer, human rights theorist | Canada | 610 |
| 38. | Chinua Achebe | Novelist | Nigeria | 585 |
| 39. | Anthony Giddens | Sociologist | Britain | 582 |
| 40. | Lawrence Lessig | Legal scholar | United States | 565 |
| 41. | Richard Rorty | Philosopher | United States | 562 |
| 42. | Jagdish Bhagwati | Economist | India, United States | 561 |
| 43. | Fernando Henrique Cardoso | Sociologist, former president | Brazil | 556 |
| 44. | J.M. Coetzee | Novelist | South Africa | 548 |
| 44. | Niall Ferguson | Historian | Britain | 548 |
| 46. | Ayaan Hirsi Ali | Politician | Somalia, Netherlands | 546 |
| 47. | Steven Weinberg | Physicist | United States | 507 |
| 48. | Julia Kristeva | Philosopher | France | 487 |
| 49. | Germaine Greer | Writer, academic | Australia, Britain | 471 |
| 50. | Antonio Negri | Philosopher, activist | Italy | 452 |
| 51. | Rem Koolhaas | Architect | Netherlands | 429 |
| 52. | Timothy Garton Ash | Historian | Britain | 428 |
| 53. | Martha Nussbaum | Philosopher | United States | 422 |
| 54. | Orhan Pamuk | Novelist | Turkey | 393 |
| 55. | Clifford Geertz | Anthropologist | United States | 388 |
| 56. | Yusuf al-Qaradawi | Cleric | Egypt, Qatar | 382 |
| 57. | Henry Louis Gates, Jr. | Scholar, cultural critic | United States | 379 |
| 58. | Tariq Ramadan | Scholar of Islam | Switzerland | 372 |
| 59. | Amos Oz | Novelist | Israel | 358 |
| 60. | Lawrence Summers | Economist, academic | United States | 351 |
| 61. | Hans Küng | Theologian | Switzerland | 344 |
| 62. | Robert Kagan | Author, political commentator | United States | 339 |
| 63. | Paul Kennedy | Historian | Britain, United States | 334 |
| 64. | Daniel Kahneman | Psychologist | Israel, United States | 312 |
| 65. | Sari Nusseibeh | Diplomat, philosopher | Palestine | 297 |
| 66. | Wole Soyinka | Playwright, activist | Nigeria | 296 |
| 67. | Kemal Dervis | Economist | Turkey | 295 |
| 68. | Michael Walzer | Political theorist | United States | 279 |
| 69. | Gao Xingjian | Novelist, playwright | China | 277 |
| 70. | Howard Gardner | Psychologist | United States | 273 |
| 71. | James Lovelock | Scientist | Britain | 268 |
| 72. | Robert Hughes | Art critic | Australia | 259 |
| 73. | Ali Mazrui | Political scientist | Kenya | 251 |
| 74. | Craig Venter | Biologist, businessman | United States | 244 |
| 75. | Martin Rees | Astrophysicist | Britain | 242 |
| 76. | James Q. Wilson | Criminologist | United States | 229 |
| 77. | Robert Putnam | Political scientist | United States | 221 |
| 78. | Peter Sloterdijk | Philosopher | Germany | 217 |
| 79. | Sergei Karaganov | Foreign-policy analyst | Russia | 194 |
| 80. | Sunita Narain | Environmentalist | India | 186 |
| 81. | Alain Finkielkraut | Essayist, philosopher | France | 185 |
| 82. | Fan Gang | Economist | China | 180 |
| 83. | Florence Wambugu | Plant Pathologist | Kenya | 159 |
| 84. | Gilles Kepel | Scholar of Islam | France | 156 |
| 85. | Enrique Krauze | Historian | Mexico | 144 |
| 86. | Ha Jin | Novelist | China | 129 |
| 87. | Neil Gershenfeld | Physicist, computer scientist | United States | 120 |
| 88. | Paul Ekman | Psychologist | United States | 118 |
| 89. | Jaron Lanier | Virtual reality pioneer | United States | 117 |
| 90. | Gordon Conway | Agricultural ecologist | Britain | 90 |
| 91. | Pavol Demes | Political analyst | Slovakia | 88 |
| 92. | Elaine Scarry | Literary theorist | United States | 87 |
| 93. | Robert Cooper | Diplomat, writer | Britain | 86 |
| 94. | Harold Varmus | Medical scientist | United States | 85 |
| 95. | Pramoedya Ananta Toer | Writer, dissident | Indonesia | 84 |
| 96. | Zheng Bijian | Political scientist | China | 76 |
| 97. | Kenichi Ohmae |