Intellectualism?

Question

What makes a person intellectual? Not everyone who can read is an intellectual, right? Not everyone who can solve basic equations like 4x + 5 = 180 is intellectual, right?

Your definition?

Answer 1

I believe an intellectual is a person who is able to grasp a broad spectrum of categories and see how they intertwine within each other. individuals who are unable to do this must work harder to see the overall picture.

Answer 2

Many good responses.. and another way to look at it is to see the opposite outlook.. of people they perceive as.. somehow "dangerous"...?? simply because they seek truth, instead of following like sheep..

From Wikipedia: Anti-intellectualism describes a sentiment of hostility towards, or mistrust of, intellectuals and intellectual pursuits. This may be expressed in various ways, such as attacks on the merits of science, education, or literature.

Anti-intellectuals often perceive themselves as champions of the ordinary people and egalitarianism against elitism, especially academic elitism. These critics argue that highly educated people form an insular social group that tends to dominate political discourse and higher education (academia).

Anti-intellectualism can also be used as a term to criticize an educational system if it seems to place minimal emphasis on academic and intellectual accomplishment, or if a government has a tendency to formulate policies without consulting academic and scholarly study.

Answer 3

A person who uses a broad range of knowledge to form their own thoughts is an intellectual. It requires a thorough understanding of the given subject matter and not simply being aware of and subscribing to the beliefs of others.

Answer 4

intellectual:
- involving the faculty of knowing, perceiving, reasoning, reflecting
- of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind
- a person who uses the mind creatively

aha did you catch that "creatively"
ah, now we must define creative, no?

creative:
- having the ability or power to create
- promoting construction or creation
- in producing or bringing about something partly or wholly new
- in investing an existing object with new properties or characteristics
- in imagining new possibilities that were not conceived of before
- and in seeing or performing something in a manner different from what was thought possible or normal previously

common themes: new, imagination, construction

so intellectualism:
use of the mind creatively to imagine and construct new things and ways.



....well, golly:
we are all doing this on a daily basis
24-7
365

Answer 5

In my opinion, it's someone who thinks "out of the box," and considers/notices things that others do not.

My grandfather was a farmer, dropped out at the 6th grade because his family was dirt poor, and yet he could do massive math problems in his head concerning farming matters, like the profit he would make from his 600 acres of corn, cotton, and wheat.

Not many people can do large math problems in their head, but I'm fairly sure that if you gave him something like "the square root of 2 plus the square root of 3" to solve, he wouldn't have any idea of what you were talking about.

Answer 6

From my understanding,
An intellectual is smarter than the average human.

Answer 7

An intellectual is just someone who thinks. I think therefore I'm an intellectual. Thats it.

Answer 8

someone who is able to apply the bookish knowledge to everyday life. someone who is able to look a things, people and situations, and understand them, even if its only in his own way.
if you can do this without the help of books, etc., youre just a good judge of character. if you do this because of the hellish amount of knowledge and insight you have, youre an intellectual.

Answer 9

I believe a true intelectual is a person who understands and contributes to the true meaning"s" of life. It's not what you read, it's what you do and it's not the mathematical problems you solve; it's the everyday family, friends and life problems you solve that matter most! (Meaning"s" was in parentheses on purpose because I BELIEVE that there is more than one!)

Answer 10

We all are created in the image of God. God is an intelligent being. Therefore, he created us naturally with free will, and high intelligence.

James 1:5