Ethics of an Intellectual

This is not about personal ethics.

After trying to read Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell and then Intellectuals by Paul Johnson, I had the same experience that every first year philosophy student has in a course called Philosophy of Ethics, or Art, or Psychology.  You stop believing in Ethics or Art or Psychology.  The thoughtful examination of any realm can crush your preconceived notions.  And with those notions gone, the confidence in the magic you thought the area had is gone.

Reading about intellectuals and their ability to lie, cheat, and steal depressed me.  And I am not talking about their personal lives.  Whether or not Shelley paid back all the loans he took or not (he didn't) is not my concern.  At some point the ideas he created must stand on his own outside of his own biography. Marx and his deceitful quotations are worse for an intellectual than any personal sin.

So what should be the ethics of an intellectual?

Present facts.  Present theories about the facts.  Present policies from the facts and theories.  Update the theories and policies when the facts change.

Ideology is not part of an intellectual life.

As Kenneth Thomas wrote:
When someone tries to get you to focus on only one part of a complicated picture, it's a safe assumption they are trying to mislead you. 

An intellectual's function is to "un-mislead."  It is to clarify the murky. To lead us away from the mud.