Of all the characteristics of the modern intellectual, as conceived by Paul Johnson, perhaps none causes more strangeness—or is it shame?—than this inordinate vanity, which is not limited to the high concept that the intellectual has of himself, but pretends to be an innate debt that others owe him. What is there to say? There are no words for this pretension, well illustrated by the amusing “begging letters”. There is nothing unusual about the affliction caused by the lack of means, which generates a feeling of injustice, as experienced by Raskólnikov. But at least he acts; even if recklessly, he seeks through his own actions what he thinks he deserves. A delirium, it is true, but the use of force denotes an awareness of the ineffectiveness of the argument, of the nonsense that would be trying to convince someone of a debt because of his superiority. This is such a detachment from reality that it can only go back to the most elementary questions of raising…