Why re-edit this little book, published in 1972, when we are living in a time of widespread disenchantment towards intellectuals? Because it was necessary to recall the definition of the "universal intellectual" defended by Sartre. As it was often caricatured, it was necessary that we return to the source and highlight its lines of force. Jean-Paul Sartre asks three important questions here – and tries to answer them: what is an intellectual? What is his function? Is he an intellectual? A benchmark for understanding what intellectuals have become since the 1970s, this plea also offers arguments to those who still want to defend their cause today.