Return to Saussure

Note: This text was originally written in Spanish and is presented here in English translation. Introduction In recent years it has become common to describe the isolation of intellectually inquisitive individuals as a by-product of neoliberalism: the performance society, the imperative of emotional productivity, or the pressures of hyperconnectivity would have turned conversation into a superficial exchange from which many withdraw. Although this diagnosis captures certain features of our present, it falls short. The phenomenon has far deeper roots and spans very different historical periods. From antiquity to today, those who seek an interlocution that does not merely reaffirm the immediate often encounter a climate of mismatch and, frequently, a subtle form of ostracism. This article examines that process without victimhood, focusing on the psychological and social mechanisms that generate rejection, as well as the historical paradox by which the very figures once marginalized e...

Introduction The pursuit of truth has long been a central concern in philosophy and education. John Milton, in Areopagitica , warns against uncritical acceptance of ideas: “A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his pastor says so... the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.” This statement finds an intellectual counterpart in Socrates’ dictum, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” and his call to “know yourself.” Both thinkers suggest that truth is not a possession to be inherited but a process to be actively pursued. This article explores the dangers of intellectual conformity, the psychology of passive learning, and the importance of critical inquiry in academia and beyond. Intellectual Conformity and the Danger of Rote Learning One of the greatest threats to genuine understanding is rote learning and intellectual conformity. Psychological studies on authority bias and the psychology of conformity, such as Stanley Milgram’s Obedien...