The Ministry of Culture organized a seminar entitled The Other Side of the Intellectual, as part of the activities of the Doha International Book Fair 32, which is currently being held under the slogan “With Reading We Rise.” Director of Ibn Khaldon Center for Humanities and Social Sciences Nayef bin Nahar said that intellectuals can play an important role in society by helping in resolving its issues. He stressed that true intellectuals are a meaningful addition to society, not a burden on it. He added that the term intellectual in the Arabic language had a different connotation than how it was used previously. He noted that, in the past, the intellectual was the polite well-mannered person, just as the Arabs used the word intellectual in the sense of intelligent and skilled in perceiving something, pointing out that this indication shows that the true intellectual has two basic conditions related to mastery and criticism.
After that, the director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Social and Human Sciences discussed the relationship of the intellectual with morals, and whether it is required for the intellectual to have them, pointing out that he believes that there is no relationship between the two matters, as science and culture are a subjective characteristic in man, and the relationship between culture and ethics is a moral relationship, noting that what matters is the role an intellectual plays in society and how they benefit it.
The fair will continue until June 21 at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, with the participation of 500 publishers from 37 countries presenting 750,000 books along with a busy cultural program.
Source: Qatar News Agency