Modernity and 'The Sage': Religio/Political Dimensions of Intellectual Formation in the Context of Contemporary Liminality, the Case of Colin Wilson

This paper explores the resources that are available in a renewed post-Weberian cultural sociology for an analysis of the current role and significance of intellectuals as ‘prophetic’ agents of moral and political renewal. It suggests that the broad tradition of civilisational sociology that takes its early inspiration from Weber’s work, and is creatively re-developed in the work of Arpad Szakolczai, can help explain the role playing complexity achieved in the self-identity of some modern intellectuals. Szakolczai’s approach is explored and, in a very preliminary manner, applied to the life of a distinctive modern ‘prophetic’ intellectual: Colin Wilson.