You Otta Be an Intellectual!

[coberst]

You Otta Be an Intellectual!

If one half of one percent of the population acquires the hobby that I call the ‘intellectual life’ such a group could be the foundation for a new “Age of Enlightenment.

The original Age of Enlightenment occurred in Europe during the eighteenth century. “The men [in the 18th century the enlightened were still only half enlightened] of the Enlightenment united on a vastly ambitious program, a program of secularism, humanity, cosmopolitanism, and freedom, above all, freedom in its many forms—freedom from arbitrary power, freedom of speech, freedom of trade, freedom to realize one’s talents, freedom of aesthetic response, freedom, in a word, of moral man to make his own way in the world.

It appears to me that following the completion of our schooling the normal inclination is to pack up our yearbook and our intellect into a large trunk and store it in the attic. Occasionally one might go up to the attic and reminisce about the old days.

What I propose is that following the end of our school days we begin a gradual process of self-actualizing self-learning.

This period of our life is generally filled with our duties to family and career so that not a great deal of time is available for extraneous matters. However, time is always available for important things and the important thing is to ‘keep curiosity alive’.

I suspect that if one does not engage in non job related intellectual efforts for the twenty years between the end of schooling and mid-life that the curiosity with which we started life will have dried up and blown away.

What are non job related intellectual activities? Such activities are what I consider to be intellectualism. Intellectualism is active engagement with ‘disinterested knowledge’.

There is in industry the concept of ‘applied research’, which is research looking for a good way to build a new mouse trap; there is also a concept called ‘pure research’, which is a search for truth that may or may not lead to an enhancement of the ‘bottom line’.

Interested knowledge is knowledge we acquire because there is money in it. Disinterested knowledge is that knowledge we seek because we care about understanding something even though there is no money in it.



The goal of intellectual life is similar to the goal of the artist "the artist chooses the media and the goal of every artist is to become fluent enough with the media to transcend it. At some point you pass from playing the piano to playing music."

I think it is possible for a significant portion of the population of every nation to become intellectuals. What do you think?

Quotes from “The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism by Peter Gay

[chonsigirl]

Interested knowledge is knowledge we acquire because there is money in it. Disinterested knowledge is that knowledge we seek because we care about understanding something even though there is no money in it.


Very contradictory terms-if you are studying something, you are interested in it for whatever motives.

And I say I participate in interested knowledge with a different definition. I study something because I like it, and there definitely is no money concept involved in it.

[coberst]

Pinky says--"If you're interested in a whole plethora of different things, you're more likely to spend time expanding your knowedge of them, and eventually come up with your own realisations / theories, rather than just reading what other people have to say, I suppose."

Amen, I agree with you. Independent thinking grounded in knowledge is the path to a better future for all of us.

[coberst]

Chonsi

I think you are quibbling.

[chonsigirl]

I don't think so, I do not agree with the definitions you provided.

[coberst]

chonsigirl wrote: I don't think so, I do not agree with the definitions you provided.


Good enough, then provide better.

'Disinterested' is a term I would very much like to replace because almost everyone stumbles over it. I think they stumble over it, not because it is an unsuitable label but because the concept it defines is beyond most experiences. Most people do not have the means, the experiences, to comprhend the term directly.

However, I assume that, being a teacher of history, you well recognize the concept so I assume you must have a better term for that concept.

[chonsigirl]

Disinterest-because you do not care to do something

Dininterested learning-because people do not want to learn something

Learning is not always aligned with making money.

I suspect that if one does not engage in non job related intellectual efforts for the twenty years between the end of schooling and mid-life that the curiosity with which we started life will have dried up and blown away.




That is not true, otherwise people wouldn't even have hobbies: fishing, knitting, playing soccer, etc. Hobbies have nothing to do with work.

[anastrophe]

coberst wrote: Good enough, then provide better.



'Disinterested' is a term I would very much like to replace because almost everyone stumbles over it. I think they stumble over it, not because it is an unsuitable label but because the concept it defines is beyond most experiences. Most people do not have the means, the experiences, to comprhend the term directly.



However, I assume that, being a teacher of history, you well recognize the concept so I assume you must have a better term for that concept.


for crying out loud. more elitist ham.



the problem is that the word 'interest' (and by extension obviously disinterest) has multiple meanings; when paired with the word knowledge, an easy interpretation is that 'interested knowledge' refers to knowledge gained due to curiousity, rather than knowledge gained for self-interest, i.e., financial gain.



it has nothing to do with 'being beyond' most people's comprehension (puke), it's that the meaning is ambiguous.

[coberst]

Disinterested knowledge is the progeny of passion.