trahison des clercsn.
/ˌtrɑːɪzɒn deɪ ˈklɛː/ The title of Julien Benda's work La Trahison des Clercs (1927), used to denote a compromise of intellectual integrity by writers, artists, and thinkers. Cf. treason of the clerks n. at treason n. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > intellectual superiority > [noun] > betrayal of
trahison des clercs1935
1935 New Statesman 26 Oct. 598/1 Is it one more proof that the intellectual should always advise but never govern? Is it one more case of the trahison des clercs?
1952 E. Hyams Soil & Civilization 127 True, there has been some reaction away from this state of mind among a few intellectuals, a kind of uneasy, if wholesome, trahison des clercs.
1968 J. M. Ziman Public Knowl. vi. 123 The aim of Science is understanding, not the accumulation of data and formulae... To fail to construct the building, to leave all the bricks lying round in untidy piles, is the trahison des clercs of today.
1978 Listener 4 May 559/3 Look, they say, terrorism is a phenomenon of our times. Let us..acknowledge that a diplomat..is fair game... I find this trahison des clercs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
<
n.1935