Parresiasti o esperti? Riflessioni su intellettuali e potere in democrazia

In this article, I put forward some initial thoughts with a view to a deeper and wider work. They aim at showing how the problem of ‘telling the truth’ (parrêsia) remains open, especially if considered in connection with the ‘intellectual’, who may be understood both as the ‘parrhesiast’ and the ‘expert’. After showing the problematic aspects inherent to the notion of parrêsia, especially in its relationship with democracy, I will discuss the two above-mentioned fi gures of the intellectual, in the light of positions expressed by Michel Foucault, Edward Said and Paul Feyerabend. More generally, my point is to let some problematic, and controversial, aspects emerge concerning the contemporary relationships between democracy, power and ‘telling the truth’.