Free-floating intellectuals

<p>Free-floating intellectuals or free-floating intelligentsia  is a term from the sociology of knowledge that was used by the sociologist and philosopher <a href="/facts/Karl_Mannheim/Gd2Ul1NN">Karl Mannheim</a> in 1929, but was originally coined by the sociologist <a href="/facts/Alfred_Weber/5F22y0HQ">Alfred Weber</a>. It includes the members of the <a href="/facts/Intelligentsia/UbPjEgue">intelligentsia</a>, whose relative independence as a socially undefined class allows them to break away from the normative thinking of their environment and to act independently of social class conditions. The intellectual floats (relatively) freely above things and tasks and is therefore less tied to ideology than other people. Karl Mannheim applied this to the political as well as the economic and cultural areas. According to Mannheim, the socially free-floating intellectuals is unbound, critical and sensitive. It is able to represent pluralistic views and have a positive impact on social conditions.
</p><p>Mannheim sought a way out of the dilemma that the human mind moves within social bonds and biases in contemplation, reasoning and knowledge, but on the other hand wants to and, in his opinion, can find unadulterated truths.
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Free-floating intellectuals open-in-new

Free-floating intellectuals