This definition of the intellectual places Ethiopia in an obvious context of threat and war. Intellectuals are the scouts or the outposts of their society, and as such responsible for scrutinizing the surrounding world. Interestingly, the allusion to flowers and bees seem to suggest that the author has no quarrel with the Western world, provided that Ethiopians are able to extract the nectar by separating the benefits of the modern world from its detriments. The responsibility of separating the good from the bad falls on intellectuals whose role is thus to filter external influences.
This exploratory role confirms that the great and vital function of intellectuals is to look after their society. What defines them is their national function, which compels them to rise above factions and special interests. While kings rule, warriors fight, peasants produce, priests pray, intellectuals reflect on what is good and bad; they represent the small but advanced garrison protecting the society from malefic and dissolving forces. Notice how Asres’s view widely departs from the position of many Ethiopian intellectuals today whose ethnicization deprives them of any national stature by making them the representatives of particular groups. They are not the outpost of national unity and survival, but the launch pad of internal divisions and conflicts.
The characterization of intellectuals as scouts of their society says a lot about the traditional state of mind. It reveals the mentality of a society trapped in a hostile environment and compelled to be on a constant guard, not only against military invasions, but also against foreign ideas. To be sure, this definition of the intellectual must be related with the mission that the Ethiopian society assigned to itself. We know the mission to be the guardianship of the true faith, itself derived from the belief that Ethiopians are God’s chosen people.7 Some such mission requires that intellectuals assume the role of watchdog by protecting the society against ideological infiltrations damaging to the mission.
We see here a function of the traditional intellectual that is quite different from its modern understanding. Modern intellectuals are expected to examine critically their own society so as to remove obstacles to progress through the spread of enlightened ideas. Above all, nothing should hamper their critical investigation, which therefore constitutes their primary function. Not so with traditional Ethiopian intellectuals: their preoccupation is more with external threats, and at times with internal developments harmful to the religious mission, as when an Ethiopian king espouses a different religion. So defined, the task of intellectuals is never to question the mission, which exists only through the acceptance of the tradition that bequeaths it, but to defend the mission against external and internal enemies.
I hasten to add that traditional intellectuals are not devoid of critical mind but that their criticisms are directed against alien doctrines and dissident views. What is encouraged is self-defense, less so self-examination. Such an orientation does not mean that changes and improvements do not occur, since self-defense does not entirely exclude self-examination. You cannot efficiently defend yourself unless you agree to some corrections and refinements, even at times to some reinterpretations. Still, the movement is not dialectical in the Hegelian sense of the word where thesis and antithesis fight and move toward a synthesis. The defensive goal never ventures into an antithetical position; it simply focuses on improving the original belief without ever integrating opposition. It is more about improving, polishing the original belief than transforming or altering it.
A good example of refinements of belief is found in the various conflictual encounters of Christian churches with scientific discoveries. Every time science counters biblical statements, interpretations and refinements are provided that tone down the conflict. Thus, the story of God’s creation of the world in seven days is made consonant with the theory of evolution through the suggestion that days should be taken as a symbolic expression, that actually they mean longer periods of time, perhaps millions of years. The belief is not challenged; it undergoes some improvements whereby it is made acceptable to a modern person.
In the same line, Asres’s definition refers to the tradition of Ethiopian intellectuals entrusted with the mission of defending transmitted beliefs. They are not critics of the tradition; they are its guardians. As such, they enjoy great prestige and some autonomy, which is necessary for the defensive purpose. They are literally the lighthouses of society: the Ethiopian state is appropriately ready to defend itself and accomplish its mission only when the warnings of intellectuals guide the military mobilization of kings and their warriors against external and internal threats.