Intellectual

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

Outside the West

In ancient China literati referred to the government officials who formed the ruling class in China for over two thousand years. They were a status group of educated laymen, not ordained priests. They were not a hereditary group as their position depended on their knowledge of writing and literature. After 200 B.C. the system of selection of candidates was influenced by Confucianism and established its ethic among the literati.

Related Topics:
China - Status group - Laymen - Priest - Hereditary - Confucianism

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The Hundred Flowers Campaign in China was largely based on the government's wish for a mobilisation of intellectuals; with very sour consequences later. This is perhaps typical of a state's instrumental approach to an intellectual class.

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