Can someone be smart and not be intelligent...? Or?

Question

vice versa, or are they one in the same?

Answer 1

Yes- like someone who is really book smart may think they know everything but when it comes down to it they don't really understand any of it- they just think they do. I guess what I'm trying to say is that someone can be intelligent without being wise. Loosely taken from eastern philosophy, here is an analogy: the universe is a giant elephant and you what you know about it comes from shining a flashlight at an inch of it at a time in the dark- the more you find out about it the more you confuse yourself and the intelligent person who is not wise will make decisions and conclusions based on their conclusions about the elephants tail, or leg or whatever- the whole time not knowing that it is a giant elephant.

Answer 2

A "savant" means a "learned person," which doesn't answer your question. Let's see what I can do..."Smart" & its synonyms refer more to"flip, sassy," attitudes & behaviour. Even as pejoratives, smart may have a suggestion of "wise," but this, too, is more like: "A couple of wise [fill in the blank] kids broke into someone's car." "Intelligence" pertains to the mental capacities; alertness, problem-solving abilities, keen perceptions & so on. So, they aren't the same. Being smart, having an attitude, really has nothing to do with intellience. In fact, I suspect an intelligent person wouldn't behave as, or be perceived to be "smart." It's certainly true that some people refer too being intelligent as being smart, but there's really quite a difference.

Edit: I seem to see some misunderstanding as to "wise," clever," "common sense" & so on. A simple answer is this:
Someone can be smart, but not intelligent, & they are not the same.

Answer 3

Intelligence is a measure of a person's mental capacity. It's all about the mental potential and problem-solving/creative thinking ability of an individual. Highly intelligent people often show their intelligence in one way or another. They tend to be unusually complex in their thoughts and/or feelings. They also tend to be good problem solvers. In addition, intelligent people frequently take interest in things that may bore others, such as in literature, science, or politics.

Common sense, on the other hand, is just as its name implies--common. It is obtained through life lessons, experience, and observations of the world around us. Anyone with an average level of intelligence can achieve strong common sense. And, with good common sense, intelligence doesn't really matter. In most situations found in the world, common sense is all that is needed. It's common. It's basic. But it's needed everyday.

In short, whether or not a person is born with high intelligence is rather irrelevant to how well they do in life. Anything in life can be accomplished by a person of average wits. And "smarts", assuming that this refers to street smarts and common sense, are common abilities that can be picked up and developed by anyone, whether or not they are highly intelligent. So, while intelligence certainly is a good thing, it isn't necessary to be 'smart".

Answer 4

I reckon they're different. No two words in English mean exactly the same (as even Roget would agree I'm sure), because of their different derivations and associations. I take "smart" as quick. "Shrewd" has an agenda and is more like "cunning", which may not have an agenda but simply a purpose. Intelligence, to me, enlists imagination, the capacity for observation, suspended judgement to review options, and finally to determine whether action or response is required, plan it, and execute it. In that process, smartness, shrewdness, and cunning may be enlisted but they are not the sum of the whole. Observe how many people, clever in politics or business, behave stupidly - the failure to respond to climate change being a classic contemporary example. Cleverness is often no more than the use of a repetitive behaviour, originally effective, but liable to eventual failure.

Answer 5

You know, intelligence is such an overwhelming concept. It has so many facets, and being 'smart' as in having common sense or a certain quick wit, are part of the total concept of intelligence.

It's one of the most valuable parts of intelligence to have as it is crucial to survival and success in this world. Outside of wisdom, it's a quality I most highly covet.

So, in short, someone can be smart, but overall not that intelligent, but that's pretty unlikely. On the other hand, someone can be extremely intelligent, but not very smart.
They are not one in the same, but one is part of the other.

Peace

Answer 6

I can answer something on a closely related issue.

There is a real distinction between *intelligence* and *cleverness.*

Intelligence is the ability to understand reality and the difference between what is true and what is false.

Cleverness, on the other hand, is mental dexterity in manipulating things to one's own advantage.

For example, a lawyer is clever if, for example, everyone knows that a person is guilty, all the evidence points to his guilt, and he committed the crime in objective fact, but that lawyer is able to get him off (or conversely, clever lawyers can and do convict innocent persons, even though all objective evidence points to their innocence).

Such a lawyer may, at the same time, be almost void of intelligence because he lacks any comprehension as to how things actually work or what is true in the real world (not to mention, that it almost goes without saying, that such a lawyer is amoral because of such perversions of justice he engineers).



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Answer 7

No, they are basically synonyms. One can, however, be KNOWLEDGEBLE without being smart, or vice versa. Knowlege is basically the acquisition of facts whereas intelligence is the ability to use facts and be resourceful. Although these two are usually correlated, that is not always the case.

Answer 8

Intelligence is a general mental capability that involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. Although intelligence is sometimes viewed quite broadly, psychologists typically regard the trait as distinct from creativity, personality, character, knowledge, or wisdom. Now does that describe smart, there are parallels here.

Answer 9

Yes! Intelligence incorporates knowledge and facts. Being smart I believe has more to do with quickness, wit, and the ability to think on your feet. I know people who process both qualities and also people that have only one.

Answer 10

I've known people who could quote you whole passages from text books. But when it came to actually using common sense or actually applying what they learned, they were incredibly stupid.

And I also know a few people who never got to graduate from high school, but who in their way were extremely wise.

So, I don't consider book-smart and intelligent to be the same thing.