what is an intellectual?

A friend of mine, Dee, is a Civil War (in America) enthusiast. She reads everything she can get her hands on concerning the War between the States, plus she visits battle sites throughout America. One time she told me she would rather visit a battle site than go to the beach. She said "what's wrong with me?" I said there is nothing wrong with you, you are just an intellectual.

I have another friend, Tee, who loves art. She taught art, created artwork even selling some, though my guess is she probably never made enough to cover the supplies she needed. Needless to say, I think she is an artist.

I kicked soccer until I was in my late 30's. I was never more than an average amateur player but I loved playing. Now I golf. I struggle at the game but I enjoy it and look forward to playing.

Is there a question in this post? Yes, there is. Can a person of average to better than average be an intellectual? Do you have to be successful to be an artist? If you didn't make your high school soccer team, can you still be considered an athlete?

Well, colloquially, intellectual means academic. This is probably the best case since people like Lebron James are pussies for China.

Unfortunately we don't live in a meritocratic society. See: Kardashians.

An intellectual is someone who is a critical thinker. They do their best to not fall victim to their own cognitive biases. They don't assume something is true just because an authority says so. They seek information that disproves their beliefs and steelman the arguments against their beliefs.

@walnutparkk said in #1:
> A friend of mine, Dee, is a Civil War (in America) enthusiast. She reads everything she can get her hands on concerning the War between the States, plus she visits battle sites throughout America. One time she told me she would rather visit a battle site than go to the beach. She said "what's wrong with me?" I said there is nothing wrong with you, you are just an intellectual.
>
> I have another friend, Tee, who loves art. She taught art, created artwork even selling some, though my guess is she probably never made enough to cover the supplies she needed. Needless to say, I think she is an artist.
>
> I kicked soccer until I was in my late 30's. I was never more than an average amateur player but I loved playing. Now I golf. I struggle at the game but I enjoy it and look forward to playing.
>
> Is there a question in this post? Yes, there is. Can a person of average to better than average be an intellectual? Do you have to be successful to be an artist? If you didn't make your high school soccer team, can you still be considered an athlete?
I don't know if being obsessed with battle sites makes you an intellectual - maybe you're just obsessed with the idea of American's having killed eachother en masse. Ha.

I feel like self proclaimed intellectuals derive a lot of their identity from their self-perception as deep thinking intelligent people, but often in my experience, in the context of universities and overly theoretical thinking - it can be a lot of fluff - a lot of fluff saturated in jargon to make it inaccessible to people who didn't learn their special language.

Then there are people who are very skilled at taking very complex subjects and making them accessible and understandable to laymen - focusing on universal language rather than elitist jargon. These people come across as the truest 'intellectuals' to me...

As Einstein said: “If you can't explain it to a 6-year-old, you don't understand it yourself,”

Wow! Did Einstein really say that? I believe the Dali Lama once said, "the essence of knowledge is, if you have it share it." Being able to communicate your thoughts is indeed a great skill.

I guess the jist of my post is my belief that you don't have to bright to be an intellectual. What you have to be is a lover of knowledge. The same can go for artists and athletes, poets and chefs. Does that sound fair?

Intellectual is someone who pro in his field and can make money without depending on others...my opinions

Look at me and you will see! ;)

You is, as, and always oz be my begonia within the mysticisms @george_mcgeorge .

Since I'm not real big on intellectuals myself, I'm not sure why anyone would want to be one.

How insipidly smart of you, @MrPushwood .