The Intellectual and Society: Role and Responsibility

Abstract

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was unquestionably one of the great Indians of the twentieth century. As a philosopher he interpreted Indian thought to the world in what has been called the 'battle of consciousness.' The Republic bestowed on him the highest offices of the State and he in tum added luster to them. A constitutional head of state in a modem democracy cannot, with justice, lay claim to Plato's ideal of a 'perfect guardian'; despite it, the philosopher in Radhakrishnan did inject a deeper perspective, draw attention to values and help the system, as he put it, 'do the right thing'.