Websters dictionary:
Intelligence: having high or satisfactory degree of mental capacity. reflecting good judgment.
Intellectual:the capacity for knowledge/the capacity for rational thought.
Though these two words are often used synonymously, I have tried to delve into the fine line that seperates them at a higher level .
I can claim to be intellectual if i attain the heights of knowledge, but intelligence is beyond attaining- it is being aware.
For eg I knew an academically brilliant girl, got all 5 calls from IIM n convereted 4 out of the 5 (B,C,L,K). However she chose K over all of them, even though K ranks lower than the rest--the reason being, she got the offer letter from them first.Sigh. inspite of all the academic brilliance, the intellect n hard work-a sheer case of lack of awareness.
When i look at her I see so much potential and yet i see nothing.
To end with Osho's thoughts on the topic-
"Intellectuality is mechanical. You can become a great scholar, a great professor, a great philosopher, just playing with words which are all borrowed, arranging and rearranging thoughts, none of which are your own.
Intellect has nothing of its own, all is borrowed. Intelligence has its own eyesight.
And that´s the difference between intelligence and intellect. "
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6 comments:
Cool post .. also another difference between intellectual and intelligent ppl is the fact dat intelligent ppl dont think out of the box .... intellectual ppl dunno wat the box is ... :p
Well punnu... its a good thought.. however what i think is more important in life given all is wisdom... going back to my avataar as a vipassana evangelist i guess... there are things which are theoretical.. then things which are practical.. and then things which are 'universe'al.. i think i would like to 'graduate' to that...
WHAT? Sorry to jump in here but you really believe that girl who got IIM calls is an intellectual?
Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, George Carlin, Bill Hicks (to name the more popular people) can be loosely termed intellectuals.
Osho was a philosopher and a very good one but his argument against intelligence can not be universally used because then to many that actually do works of science etc will have no motivation or incentive to peruse further.
How crude an argument you put forward, I think it is necessary to realize who you are talking about.
Oh that girl is an idiot-like so many IIM guys I know. Ability to crack CAT and become a corporate slave does not guarantee intellectual capacity in fact some would agree that that would work against it.
Cheers!
Good post :)
Wow, thanks! You are so right! I have seem so many intellectuals/scholars who have little or absolutely no intellegence, including my own family members!
That's why I chose not to pursue highest academic degrees but instead seek for meanings and the true, and I got it!
You explains everything! Thank you very much! All the best to you!!!
What?
Man, you simplify things extremely.
1) Without intelligence there is no intellect, without intellect there is no intellectuality.
2) Intelligence doesn't mean choosing to be well-fed or always choosing more money.
Her reason simply states, that money were NOT a factor. Perhaps she can afford to work for those who offer first? Perhaps K offered something more? Perhaps her crush works there and perhaps she prefers not to relocate? Or perhaps when she was drunk she vowed to accept the first offer and decided to keep the vow?
3) Proof by example (especially so contrived* as yours) means nothing, it only allows for the "thesis" to degrade to "I have a better example so my words carry more weight".
4) Osho's thought seems plain wrong.
Intellectuality is mechanical? Because you can borrow from others and _rearrange_?
a) Compiling works of others is my work. If I compile, I add. Because I compile, I add. There, I didn't just borrow.
b) We all borrow. "Standing on giant's shoulders", no?
c) Just mechanically rearranging (understood literally, as put thought A behind B) is really tough, if end result is to have sense. Good luck with intellectuals thoughts! Especially when you're not intelligent!
d) You (or Osho, for that matter) try being great scholar or professor or anyone who teaches and is great at it. Just try for a year. Then say something like "this is all borrowed" or "this is not intelligent".
Intellectual is a step after intelligent. It's about using your intelligence, gathering knowledge (loads of it), using it. Wanna-be intellectuals, posers etc. can get by just on intelligence, because it's basic and every human has it. Question is, what do you do with it - do you develop it or not.
TJB
* I named your example contrived because I cannot help but feel you oversimplified her motivation because of your personal opinion of her. Which in turn can be as contrived as I deem your example since I don't know your relationship and got this feeling from just your blog post.
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