Sitting in the capital of the biggest economy in Europe, and the home of Hegelian idealism, I cannot help but feel a rather English empiricism and look to Russell again. On the brink of the most terrible of all the Europ-ean wars, he wrote: "Anti-intellectualism arises in situations where strong passions that cannot be gratified exist." Today's task is to channel these passions into a mutually productive relationship between the republic of letters and the res publica. 

Now, most continental intellectuals are in favour of the European idea. The notion of a United States of Europe is not foreign at all. It would be good for the debate if that notion were to be questioned more often and in a constructive tone.

One question remains, however. How will Europe's cultural elite cope with the possibility that the dream of a united Europe not only hasn't come true but may be turning into a nightmare?