Throughout the ages, sages, empathetic individuals and characters who emerged in different times and advocated for positive change have often been idolised and held in high esteem for their selflessness, implied openness to scrutiny, and impact on people's lives.

The same holds, though with frequent letdowns, disillusionments and betrayals in our part of the world today. This is manifested in the sea of characters around us, seemingly echoing and reincarnating Moses, Mandela, Mother Teresa, Nietzsche, Orwell, Galileo, as well as Winfrey, Socrates, Wollstonecraft, Luxemburg, Locke, Hammurabi, Aurelius, Lincoln, Marshall, Mill, Burke, Erasmus, Voltaire, Spartacus, Bismarck, Bingen, Assisi, Avicenna, Cohen and others.

Yet, as they multiply, so does the gravity of the issues they seemingly oppose — a stark paradox that raises questions: Why did relatively few authorities on intellect and humanism thrive during periods constrained by classicism and obscurantism? Why do intellectual pursuits and advocacy often seem at odds with driving meaningful change in an........

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