Intellectuals are philosophers, they are writers, they are artists. They are all those people who work with their minds by questioning the events that touch them and are touched by them. To quote a famous allegory by Plato, we can say that intellectuals are those who know how to look beyond the shadows and never take concepts for granted. However, some questions about what their role is and, more specifically, whether they should engage in politics are still unanswered. Over the years the responses and behaviors towards the engaged culture have been different and we can assume that the intellectuals who cannot separate the two live their lives actively because they want to be part of the events around them and let awareness win about apathy. On the contrary, we can assume that what makes apathy overcome are the intellectuals who look at politics and culture as two different and specific concepts and live a solitary life away from society. However, this is not an appropriate judgment because it would be difficult to consider to what extent loneliness could be considered cowardice and to what extent action could be considered conscience. The word intellectual used so far does not exempt us, ordinary people, from this dilemma and does not allow us to believe that we have no influence on the course of history. As said before, this is an unanswered question, but to draw some conclusions it would be essential to look back at what Epicurus thought about life and to look back at what Gramsci meant by being a partisan. Equally important is to look back at how these two philosophies have influenced literature and art, reading Sartre's thoughts on the committed writer and calling to mind some... middle of paper... echoes of intellectuals such as Epicurus, Gramsci , Sartre and Picasso, but if we look more closely at each of us our actions have weight and consequences throughout history. It is for this reason that we, as “non-organic” citizens and intellectuals, must seek to find our own meaning. Works cited Art for art's sake: its error and its wickedness. The world of art, vol.2. May 1917. 98-102Better out than in. 2013. Web. 17 November 2013. Epicurus. Letter to Menoeceus. The Internet Classics Archive, 1994.Gramsci, Antonio. I hate the indifferent. Future city, 1917.Sartre, Jean-Paul. What is literature?. New York: Philosophical Library, 1949. Archive.org.June 2005. Internet Archive. November 12, 2013.Smith, Roberta. "Mysterious man, paints the city. Banksy makes New York his gallery for a month." The New York Times. Network. 30 October 2013: C1. Network. November 17. 2013.