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Who are the world’s leading public intellectuals? The October 2005 cover of Prospect Foreign Policy and Britain’s Prospect magazine selected their top 100, and invited readers to vote for their top five. Here was their selection criteria. The irony of this “thinkers” list is that it does not bear thinking about too closely. The problems of definition and judgment that it involves would discourage more rigorous souls. But some criteria must be spelled out. What is a public intellectual? Someone who has shown distinction in their own field along with the ability to communicate ideas and influence debate outside of it. Candidates must have been alive, and still active in public life (though many on this list are past their prime). Such criteria ruled out the likes of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Milton Friedman, who would have been automatic inclusions 20 or so years ago. 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. We tried to avoid the “box ticking” problem of having x Chinese, y economists and z under-50s. But we have also tried to give due weight to the important thinkers in all the main intellectual disciplines and centers of population. We also tried to ensure that all names on the list are influential in at least a few countries in their region, if not the entire globe. —Prospect and Foreign Policy Voting closed October 10, 2005. More than 20,000 people voted in this poll. See results below.The Prospect/FP Top 100 Public Intellectuals Rank Name Occupation(s) Country Total Votes 1. Noam Chomsky Linguist, author, activist United States 4827 2. Umberto Eco Medievalist, novelist Italy 24643. Richard Dawkins Biologist, polemicist Britain 21884. Václav Havel Playwright, statesman Czech Republic 19905. Christopher Hitchens Polemicist United States, Britain 18446. Paul Krugman Economist, columnist United States 17467. Jürgen Habermas Philosopher Germany 16398. Amartya Sen Economist India 15909. Jared Diamond Biologist, physiologist, historian United States 149910. Salman Rushdie Novelist, political commentator Britain, India 146811. Naomi Klein Journalist, author Canada 137812. Shirin Ebadi Lawyer, human rights activist Iran 130913. Hernando de Soto Economist Peru 120214. Bjørn Lomborg Environmentalist Denmark 114115. Abdolkarim Soroush Religious theorist Iran 111416. Thomas Friedman Journalist, author United States 104917. Pope Benedict XVI Religious leader Germany, Vatican 104618. Eric Hobsbawm Historian Britain 103719. Paul Wolfowitz Policymaker, academic United States 102820. Camille Paglia Social critic, author United States 101321. Francis Fukuyama Political scientist, author United States 88322. Jean Baudrillard Sociologist, cultural critic France 85823. Slavoj Zizek Sociologist, philosopher Slovenia 84024. Daniel Dennett Philosopher United States 83225. Freeman Dyson Physicist United States 82326. Steven Pinker Experimental psychologist Canada, United States 81227. Jeffrey Sachs Economist United States 81028. Samuel Huntington Political scientist United States 80529. Mario Vargas Llosa Novelist, politician Peru 77130. Ali al-Sistani Cleric Iran, Iraq 76831. E.O. Wilson Biologist United States 74232. Richard Posner Judge, scholar, author United States 74033. Peter Singer Philosopher Australia 70334. Bernard Lewis Historian Britain, United States 66035. Fareed Zakaria Journalist, author United States 63436. Gary Becker Economist United States 63037. Michael Ignatieff Writer, human rights theorist Canada 61038. Chinua Achebe Novelist Nigeria 58539. Anthony Giddens Sociologist Britain 58240. Lawrence Lessig Legal scholar United States 56541. Richard Rorty Philosopher United States 56242. Jagdish Bhagwati Economist India, United States 56143. Fernando Henrique Cardoso Sociologist, former president Brazil 55644. J.M. Coetzee Novelist South Africa 54844. Niall Ferguson Historian Britain 54846. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Politician Somalia, Netherlands 54647. Steven Weinberg Physicist United States 50748. Julia Kristeva Philosopher France 48749. Germaine Greer Writer, academic Australia, Britain 47150. Antonio Negri Philosopher, activist Italy 45251. Rem Koolhaas Architect Netherlands 42952. Timothy Garton Ash Historian Britain 42853. Martha Nussbaum Philosopher United States 42254. Orhan Pamuk Novelist Turkey 39355. Clifford Geertz Anthropologist United States 38856. Yusuf al-Qaradawi Cleric Egypt, Qatar 38257. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Scholar, cultural critic United States 37958. Tariq Ramadan Scholar of Islam Switzerland 37259. Amos Oz Novelist Israel 35860. Lawrence Summers Economist, academic United States 35161. Hans Küng Theologian Switzerland 34462. Robert Kagan Author, political commentator United States 33963. Paul Kennedy Historian Britain, United States 33464. Daniel Kahneman Psychologist Israel, United States 31265. Sari Nusseibeh Diplomat, philosopher Palestine 29766. Wole Soyinka Playwright, activist Nigeria 29667. Kemal Dervis Economist Turkey 29568. Michael Walzer Political theorist United States 27969. Gao Xingjian Novelist, playwright China 27770. Howard Gardner Psychologist United States 27371. James Lovelock Scientist Britain 26872. Robert Hughes Art critic Australia 25973. Ali Mazrui Political scientist Kenya 25174. Craig Venter Biologist, businessman United States 24475. Martin Rees Astrophysicist Britain 24276. James Q. Wilson Criminologist United States 22977. Robert Putnam Political scientist United States 22178. Peter Sloterdijk Philosopher Germany 21779. Sergei Karaganov Foreign-policy analyst Russia 19480. Sunita Narain Environmentalist India 18681. Alain Finkielkraut Essayist, philosopher France 18582. Fan Gang Economist China 18083. Florence Wambugu Plant Pathologist Kenya 15984. Gilles Kepel Scholar of Islam France 15685. Enrique Krauze Historian Mexico 14486. Ha Jin Novelist China 12987. Neil Gershenfeld Physicist, computer scientist United States 12088. Paul Ekman Psychologist United States 11889. Jaron Lanier Virtual reality pioneer United States 11790. Gordon Conway Agricultural ecologist Britain 9091. Pavol Demes Political analyst Slovakia 8892. Elaine Scarry Literary theorist United States 8793. Robert Cooper Diplomat, writer Britain 8694. Harold Varmus Medical scientist United States 8595. Pramoedya Ananta Toer Writer, dissident Indonesia 8496. Zheng Bijian Political scientist China 7697. Kenichi Ohmae Management theorist Japan 6898. Wang Jisi Foreign-policy analyst China 5998. Kishore Mahbubani Author, diplomat Singapore 59100. Shintaro Ishihara Politician, author Japan 57

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Who are the world’s leading public intellectuals?

Foreign Policy and Britain’s Prospect magazine selected their top 100, and invited readers to vote for their top five. Here was their selection criteria.

The October 2005 cover of Prospect

The irony of this “thinkers” list is that it does not bear thinking about too closely. The problems of definition and judgment that it involves would discourage more rigorous souls. But some criteria must be spelled out. What is a public intellectual? Someone who has shown distinction in their own field along with the ability to communicate ideas and influence debate outside of it.

Candidates must have been alive, and still active in public life (though many on this list are past their prime). Such criteria ruled out the likes of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Milton Friedman, who would have been automatic inclusions 20 or so years ago. 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.

We tried to avoid the “box ticking” problem of having x Chinese, y economists and z under-50s. But we have also tried to give due weight to the important thinkers in all the main intellectual disciplines and centers of population. We also tried to ensure that all names on the list are influential in at least a few countries in their region, if not the entire globe.

Voting closed October 10, 2005. More than 20,000 people voted in this poll. See results below.

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The Prospect/FP Top 20 Public Intellectuals, 2008

  • The Prospect/FP Top 20 Public Intellectuals, 2008

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  • Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses
  • Current Events This Week: January 2023
  • African Americans by the Numbers
  • Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
  • The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales