Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, or speculate on a variety of different ideas.

Academics and public intellectuals

In some contexts, especially journalistic speech, intellectual refers to academics, generally in the humanities, especially philosophy, who speak about various issues of social or political import. These are so-called public intellectuals — in effect communicators.

Related Topics:
Journalistic speech - Humanities - Philosophy

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The term masks an assumption or several, in particular on academia, for example that intellectual work goes on generally in private, and there is a gap to society that requires bridging.

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The German poet Stefan George is an example of an intellectual who rejected and despised both the academic and too public roles for an artist, and yet was highly influential.

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