Intellectuals and "Humanity as a Whole"

In the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, Stanley Katz (who now chairs the editorial board of this journal) invited the intellectual community to reflect on its own history of involvement in public affairs and to make good on its mistakes. This essay examines a single case of intellectuals involving themselves in public affairs and some of the difficulties in saying and evaluating exactly what happened. Critical attention is given to Anthropological Intelligence, a book by David Price published in 2008, which concerns the involvement of anthropologists in wartime activities during World War II and argues that even that "just war" left an indelible stain on the moral fabric of the discipline.