Judith Butler drew a crowd at Madrid's Reina Sofía Museum on September 26, 2025, that left many outside. The talk unfolded in what El País called "thunderous, attentive silence," with ovations and shouts more typical of fandom. The entire auditorium rose to its feet at the end. The headline later published: "We are witnessing the restoration of patriarchy and racism."
El País profiled Butler alongside Slavoj Žižek, Byung-Chul Han, Thomas Piketty, Yuval Noah Harari and the late Mark Fisher as "rock star intellectuals"—thinkers who stir strong passions beyond seminars and scholarly papers. The piece asks what makes some authors become fans' favorites rather than just readers' favorites, and why contemporary thought breaks out of academia to reach a wider public.
The Business of Ideas
Stefano Micali, whose book How to be a Successful Philosopher: A Guide to Contemporary Thought is due in December 2026, writes with what El País calls biting sarcasm: "Thinkers behave like small businesses, seeking to maximize their visibility in the marketplace of ideas." Micali classifies bestselling authors into three paths to success. One is the path of prophets of dystopia, which he associates with Byung-Chul Han and Giorgio Agamben. Another is spectacular performance, typical of Žižek, who constantly produces texts and lectures, improvises, mixes high and low culture, combines doctrines and is always present. The third is becoming a brand, which Micali attributes to authors like Butler, whose name becomes linked to a social issue—in her case, gender.
Micali writes that the "brand-thinker" cannot help but address burning issues such as ecology or gender identity and, to gain visibility, must create the impression of having radically shifted the axes of discourse. The three models aren't mutually exclusive.
Giselle Etcheverry, a curator of literary and intellectual projects, says these are authors whose general discourse resonates across different social strata and is sustained through frequent, short publications that capture the spirit of the times. She points to Han's continuous flow of short essays and Žižek's ability to analyze current events in books almost before they happen.
Publishers and Platforms
Etcheverry says publishers play a role in popularizing authors, and that the effect varies by country. Han, whose works are translated from German, receives attention in Spain that he doesn't get elsewhere. Authors such as the Slovenian sociologist and philosopher Renata Salecl and the Belgian philosopher of science Vinciane Despret enjoy great fame in Latin America. "And that's the work of publishers," she says. Social media, short videos and memes with pithy quotes help spread ideas. Simple, clear concepts go viral more easily.
Javier Correa Román, editor of the magazine Filosofía&Co and founder of the Malaletra bookstore in Madrid, says these figures offer a toolbox for understanding the present. "They handle concepts very well, moving away from academic language: [their works and speeches are] aimed at an audience that seeks a useful diagnosis for understanding the world. [The audience] reads [and views] things that they then see in their daily lives," he says. When theory is adapted to everyday experience, readers feel not only understood but also astute, able to interpret reality beyond its surface.
Correa Román says analyzing popular culture sells well when it's not treated as empty but as something in which certain forces operate. He gives Temptation Island as an example. Žižek isn't the only one who likes popular culture; Mark Fisher based much of his discourse on the analysis of capitalist realism.
Techniques and Traits
Micali identifies techniques that help an influential thinker succeed, including inversion—reversing the dominant thesis on a topic—declaring oneself the first to grasp the essence of an issue, and criticizing colleagues from a position of clear superiority. "The tone must be peremptory," Micali writes. "One doesn't make an argument, but rather states something as being obvious, an irrefutable fact." El País notes these techniques can also be useful in ordinary bar conversations.
Personal traits help make these thinkers recognizable: Žižek's halting diction and frantic gestures, Han's enigmatic image and his obsession with his garden and pianos, and Butler's non-binary identity. These traits make them stand out among many essayists who lack notable attributes.
The piece also describes a second tier of authors, less mainstream and revered, who form a constellation in current thinking. Etcheverry names Donna Haraway and cyborg thought, Wendy Brown and her critique of neoliberalism, and Rosi Braidotti and the posthuman concept as essential references in their respective fields. She also points to the "collective intellects" compiled by McKenzie Wark in Twenty-One Thinkers for the 21st Century, published nine years ago in 2017, saying they're part of a body of knowledge that can only be achieved collaboratively.
Academic Skepticism
Despite awards, tours and book sales, the most celebrated authors are often viewed unfavorably by academia, which considers their fame disproportionate to their original contribution to knowledge or judges them careless in their practice. Correa Román says that's unfair. "These are authors with a high level of public exposure: many others probably wouldn't withstand the scrutiny they're subjected to," he says.
El País ends by saying that in an era of overproduction of stimuli and ideas, when people are saturated with opinions and experts, these authors offer useful narratives about the world and our role in it. "And, at the very least, they make us feel smarter."
Why This Matters:
The marketplace of ideas operates like any other market—visibility, branding and distribution matter as much as the product itself. Publishers shape which thinkers reach which audiences, and social media accelerates the spread of digestible concepts over dense argument. Academia's skepticism about celebrity intellectuals reflects a deeper tension: does popularization dilute rigor, or does it fulfill philosophy's public role? For readers seeking frameworks to interpret a chaotic world, these thinkers offer accessible narratives that feel both urgent and clarifying. Whether they're prophets, performers or brands, they've found a formula that works in an attention economy where complexity must compete with brevity and where feeling smarter can be as valuable as being smarter.