The first philosophical question is political: Who can philosophize? Rancière demonstrates how, since Plato, philosophy has strived to deny the poor the possibility of leisure and thought, in order to preserve the privilege of philosophy from the disastrous mixing, the hybrids, the bastards. In the 19th century, the shoemakers are in revolt, and the philosophers proclaim the great change: The producer will now be king, and the ideologue a slave. However, following Marx's path, the science of the new world takes on a disturbing stance: The "true" proletarian is always yet to come, the book is never-ending, and the scholar dismisses all those who wish to apply his science. The philosopher is no longer king. Through Marx, Sartre, and Bourdieu, Rancière shows how the professional thinker cheaply secures the "clear-sighted" view of his neighbor's blindness, for the sake of a people that is always asked to remain in its place.