In democratic civil society a public intellectual can spark deep conversations aboutdisparities of privilege and power. This brings with it the need to be intentionalabout ethics. The author reviews different roles in which he has been cast where hehas played the role of a “public intellectual”. The different hats he has worn includescholar, journalist, paralegal investigator, and leftwing movement activist. In eachcase, there were normative or at least expected ethical boundaries which usuallyvaried by project and sometimes conflicted with other roles. After exploring thedifferent roles and related ethical issues, there is a discussion from a progressiveperspective of basic ethical mandates and tools for building human rights. Anextensive set of references is provided to assist researchers
