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There are a couple of odd candidates. Friedman for one, and also Christopher Hitchens. There are a few candidates who are certainly intellectually important, but haven't really had much public impact, and a handful who are hugely well-known, but aren't particularly intellectual. But all things considered I think it's not a bad list.
I found it really hard to narrow it down to 5, but in the end, I went for Pope Benedict XVI, Amartya Sen, Richard Dawkins, Jared Diamond and Aitzaz Ahsan.
I'm conflicted on Hitchens. Before he went nuts over the Iraq war, I thought he was a really interesting and provocative writer. Though I'm certainly biased since he was one of the first "intellectuals" that I came across as a young college student just starting to explore. Though I did happen to read his short Jefferson biography recently, which I enjoyed.
Friedman just annoys me. But I really shouldn't snark since I don't recognize a good number of these people.
I don't feel qualified to respond. I counted, and hell, I only knew 34 of their names, and of those 34, I am familiar with the work of perhaps 25. One-fourth of an educated opinion does not an opinion make.
I didn't know who a lot of them were. I guess I'm just out of it. I'd probably pick Gore and Peter Singer, not that I really know that much about their intellectual achievements, but I like what they seem to stand for. Gladwell? I liked his books and his smirky author photos, but I'm not sure that makes him a top intellectual. Why not David Byrne or Douglas Hofstadter?
that was harder than I expected. I voted for Sen, Benedict XVI, Yunus, Al Gore (based on the 'shaping public discourse in an important way' criteria, although I wonder how he's viewed outside of the United States), and I honestly can't remember the last two; it was either Habermas and Zizek, or Sachs and Easterly (who probably cancel each other out).
okay, gore is clearly respected enough to win the Nobel Peace Prize. I guess I was thinking about how in the US, he gets used as a sort of jokey target by people who deny global warming, and I was curious as to whether he's viewed the same way elsewhere
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