I have an old and dear friend who insists that I am an intellectual -- because I take pleasure in ideas. Would that were only what makes one an intellectual. But I don't think it is.
Ideas are great, and I do take great pleasure in them. They are, however, but a tool for understanding. Not the only tool, and not the principal one.
Gutting says that an intellectual is "in general, someone seriously devoted to what used to be called the 'life of the mind': thinking pursued not instrumentally, for the sake of practical goals, but simply for the sake of knowing and understanding." That has not been my experience. An intellectual, in my experience, is someone who thinks that ideas -- and most especially his own ideas -- are the be-all and end-all of existence. No one is more inclined to see the world in monochrome than an intellectual. And ideas tend to to be in black-and-white, not color. You can get some fabulous effects in black-and-white. But the world and life are different. So is the life of the mind.
Gutting says that an intellectual is "in general, someone seriously devoted to what used to be called the 'life of the mind': thinking pursued not instrumentally, for the sake of practical goals, but simply for the sake of knowing and understanding." That has not been my experience. An intellectual, in my experience, is someone who thinks that ideas -- and most especially his own ideas -- are the be-all and end-all of existence. No one is more inclined to see the world in monochrome than an intellectual. And ideas tend to to be in black-and-white, not color. You can get some fabulous effects in black-and-white. But the world and life are different. So is the life of the mind.
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