ABSTRACT
The public intellectual must understand the larger context of communication in order to be able to make the specialized knowledge relevant for outside audiences. There is a French study based on bibliometric data from 3,659 researchers working in the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the largest agency for basic science in Europe. The American political scientist Donald Stokes articulated a similar kind of argument with regard to the stimulating relationship between research and practical developments, for example solving problems in business enterprises, developing new processes and products. Academics as public intellectuals communicate in forums where arguments are the essential mechanism for the formation of descriptive, explanatory and normative opinions. Both the institutional task of the dissemination of research and the tasks of individual academics as public intellectuals are located in this broader picture of cultural enlightenment and deliberative democracy.
