Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
I'd like to know why philosophy is an essential part of being an intellectual in your opinion though. Seems limited to me.
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Philosophy comprises ethics, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics; can anyone who does not think about any of these questions seriously be properly called an great intellectual? After all, an intellectual is someone who thinks about ideas, and philosophy *is* thinking about ideas in its purest form.
There is a common idea that knowledge in specific fields, notably culture, elevates one to the status of intellectual. In the small sense of the word, I suppose this is true, but if I am looking for the world's greatest living intellectual I'm not wasting my time on critics, artistes and theologians. That's like looking for the world's greatest hockey player in the ECHL.