“Many people thought about the Russian intelligentsia, especially at the end of the 19th century and throughout the entire 20th century: writers and poets, scientists and politicians. They tried to give clear (as it seemed to the authors) definitions of this concept, analyzed the characteristic features with which the intelligentsia is endowed, and clarified its role in numerous tragic turns of Russian history. However, none of the definitions took root and in the end it was recognized that the Russian intelligentsia is an associative-emotional concept, which, unfortunately, allows for almost free interpretation" (Romanovsky S.I. Impatience of Thought, or Historical portrait radical Russian intelligentsia).
“Experience has shown that it is impossible to make a party out of the intelligentsia, even if one wants to, because every intelligent person feels himself to be a one-of-a-kind product of nature and society. Therefore, it has not yet been possible to develop an unambiguous definition of the intelligentsia and, therefore, to determine who can, and who cannot be accepted into the ranks of the intelligentsia party" (Sokolov A.V. Generations of the Russian intelligentsia. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House S59 SPbGUP, 2009, p. 16).
"A diverse ethical and educational subculture formed in post-reform Russia, long ago, and quite deservedly, acquired the status of a classic Russian intelligentsia.<...>These ascetics were highly characterized by anti-philistine, anti-bourgeois attitudes, contempt for self-interest, acquisitiveness, material benefits and conveniences; priority is spiritual, not material needs"(Sokolov A.V. Generations of the Russian intelligentsia. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House S59 SPbGUP, 2009, pp. 43, 44).
"...the intelligentsia is a virtual group of educated and creative people, guided not only by reason, but also by feelings of conscience and shame, emotions of compassion and reverence for Culture and Nature" (Sokolov A.V. Generations of the Russian intelligentsia. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House S59 SPbGUP, 2009, p. 51).
“... the intelligentsia is called the intelligentsia because it most consciously, most decisively and most accurately reflects and expresses the development of class interests and political groupings throughout society” (Lenin V.I. Tasks of revolutionary youth // Complete collected works - T.7. - P.343).
“... in the process of development, any social group creates its own intelligentsia, which represents the intellectual layer of this group” (Kvakin A.V. Contemporary issues studying the history of the intelligentsia // Problems of methodology of the history of the intelligentsia: searching for new approaches. - Ivanovo, 1995. P.8).
“We now have a numerous, new, popular, socialist intelligentsia, radically different from the old, bourgeois intelligentsia, both in its composition and in its socio-political appearance” (Stalin I. Questions of Leninism. 11th ed. M. , 1947. P. 608).
“... the Russian intelligentsia is a group, movement and tradition, united by the ideological nature of their tasks and the groundlessness of their ideas” (Fedotov G. P. The tragedy of the intelligentsia // Fedotov G. P. Fate and sins of Russia: in 2 volumes. St. Petersburg, 1991. T . 1. pp. 71-72)".
“In general, the intelligentsia, by its nature, is extremely authoritarian. Calling itself a “cultural stratum”, “decent” people, it likes to introduce criteria for suitability: which people are “handshake” and which are not” (Shchipkov A. The New Intelligentsia and the Modernization of Russia).
“The intelligentsia is a thinking environment where mental goods are developed, the so-called “spiritual values”” (Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky D.N. Psychology of the Russian intelligentsia // Milestones; Intelligentsia in Russia: Collection of articles 1909-1910. - M.: 1991 . - p.385).
“The intelligentsia is ethically - anti-philistine, sociologically - a non-estate, non-class, successive group, characterized by the creativity of new forms and ideals and the active implementation of them in the direction of physical and mental, social and personal liberation of the individual” (Ivanov-Razumnik R.V. . What is the intelligentsia.// Power. Anthology.
“Abroad there is no concept of “intelligentsia”, but there are “intellectuals”. And in Russia there are the concepts of “intellectuals” (Western type) and “Russian intelligentsia”. These are those who teach, heal, obtain new knowledge and try to pass it on to people, to help the Russian and other peoples of Russia get out of the pit of poverty and lawlessness, where they found themselves at the mercy of the “intellectuals”” (Commentary to the article “Pseudo-intelligentsia”).
"... there was such a phenomenon in Russia in the 19th century. Attempts at Soviet era stretching the definition of “intelligentsia” to people who are not engaged in manual labor and who have received a higher education or two higher educations, generally speaking, does not give anything in this sense. These are violent attempts. And we are dealing with a completely different reality. For at least one reason: this intelligentsia has never been independent in the political, economic and intellectual sense. It always appears in the black Bermuda triangle, which is designated “power – people – intelligentsia”; the West is also present there in the form of such an implicit fourth corner” (Intellectuals and intelligence on the television screen // B. Dubin).
"... the definition given to the intelligentsia by V. Nabokov in one of his letters to Edmund Wilson (February 23, 1948): " Distinctive features Russian intelligentsia (from Belinsky to Bunakov) were the spirit of sacrifice, ardent participation in the political struggle, ideological and practical, ardent sympathy for the outcast of any nationality, fanatical honesty, tragic inability to compromise, the true spirit of responsibility for all peoples...” (Bogomolov N .A. Creative self-consciousness in real life (intelligentsia and anti-intellectualism in Russian consciousness late XIX- beginning of the 20th century)).
"Usually a distinction is made between the humanitarian (doctors, lawyers, teachers, clergy); scientific (scientists); technical (engineers, designers); artistic or creative (writers, journalists, artists, musicians and actors); managerial (administrative and bureaucratic apparatus, including tribal leaders, kings and highest royal dignitaries) and military ( officer corps) intelligentsia. Sometimes students are called pre-intelligentsia" (Zhukov V.Yu. Fundamentals of the theory of culture).
“When analyzing changes in the conceptual component of the “Russian intellectual” type using dictionary and encyclopedic sources, we discovered that for each individual stage of development of the type there are its own constitutive features.
In the period before the revolution, these signs of an intellectual are as follows:
1 person,
2. belonging to a certain sociocultural environment,
3. educated,
4. mentally developed,
5. highly moral,
6. sacrificial,
7. serving the ideas of social asceticism.
The Soviet period as a whole endows the intellectual with other characteristics:
1 person,
2. belonging to a certain social class,
3. knowledge worker,
4. employed,
5. having special education,
6. cultural,
7. whose social behavior is characterized by individualism, inability to discipline and organization, flabbiness, instability, lack of will, doubt, hesitation and cowardice.
For the modern period, the conceptual features will be as follows - intellectual:
1 person,
2. mentally developed,
3. earns a living by working,
4. professionally engaged in mental (often complex creative) work,
5. most often educated and with specialized knowledge in various fields,
6. possessing great internal culture, highly moral
7. bearer of traditions and spiritual culture of the people, which he develops and disseminates,
8. well mannered,
9. thinking, taking part in political life countries,
10. prone to indecision, lack of will, hesitation, doubt.”
Yaroshenko O.A. EVOLUTION OF THE LINGUOCULTURAL TYPE “RUSSIAN INTELLECTUAL” (based on the works of Russian fiction second half of the 19th century - beginning of the XXI centuries)
"... in the Christian understanding, the intelligentsia is God the Word, the second hypostasis of the Divine Trinity. God the Word, incarnate in the hypostasis of Jesus Christ, founded the Church on earth; Christ was and remains the Head of the Church. Consequently, here on earth, the Church is the bearer divine intelligentsia: she was given the Revelation and the gifts of grace, thanks to which the Church is endowed highest ability understanding, or intelligentsia. So, the significative of the word intelligentsia is absolute understanding, and its denotation in Christian philosophy was the second Person of the Divine Trinity - God the Word, the intelligentsia is associated with God and His earthly body - the Church.
The intelligentsia can be called possessed by the spirit of denial of Tradition historical Russia an asocial, pseudo-religious, cosmopolitan sect of renegades, self-proclaimedly proclaiming itself the bearer of the self-consciousness of the people, taking responsibility for the fate of Russia and its peoples" (Kamchatnov A.M. On the concept of intelligentsia in the context of Russian culture).
“Nowadays, in the media, in the speeches of “intellectuals” from sociology, heart-rending cries are heard from time to time: “The intelligentsia has disappeared! The intelligentsia has died! The intelligentsia has been reborn!” etc. You lie, gentlemen! The intelligentsia is indestructible as long as the Russian people, the people of Russia, exist! And, fortunately, intellectuals in the highest sense of the word have not disappeared from the country. the ranks multiplied, and it was they who brought our country to the forefront scientific and technological progress, turned into a leading world power, and successfully continue to support this high level. The intelligentsia in Russia is the spirit of the nation, a particularly valuable asset of the people, of the whole society. These are people of high mental and ethical culture, capable of rising above personal interests, thinking not only about themselves and their loved ones, but also about what does not directly concern them, but relates to the destinies and aspirations of their people" (Petrov B.S. Intellectual or an intellectual?).
“What the intelligentsia is today is not very clear” (Boris Dubin, “Sociologists on the collective portrait of the modern Russian intelligentsia”).
"I think that the intelligentsia in to a large extent“is the cultural vanguard of the nation” (Kara-Murza A. Sociologists on the collective portrait of the modern Russian intelligentsia).
“Simply, educated cattle are the intelligentsia” (Rozanov V. Why Putin and I don’t like intellectuals).
"In conclusion, I would like to mention one more thing, on this moment a small and dying category of people who believe that there really are no rednecks. All people are equal as beings, regardless of anything, and require equal treatment. Human, in in the best sense this word. It was customary in the old days to consider these rare people to be the intelligentsia" (Revdin-Artinsky A.Ya. Classifications of cattle).
"The intelligentsia is a social group distinguished by its involvement in mental work, high educational level and creative character of its activities, manifested in the introduction of a personal-individual principle into this activity, producing, preserving and carrying universal human values and achievements of world culture to other social groups, and also characterized by specific psychological traits and positive moral and ethical qualities" (Elbakyan E.S. Russian intelligentsia: mentality and archetype).
“For me, the model of the intelligentsia is Innokenty Smoktunovsky, who in October 1993 was not afraid to speak to a crowd of people who were expecting a clash with the Communists at the Kremlin, that we are brothers, that we need to understand each other, only then will it happen world, we fools booed him, but many later, in any case, I remembered his speech for a long time, and I was ashamed" (Blazheev G. Russian intelligentsia - cattle with carpets and books).
“The word “intelligentsia” came into English in the 20s of the 20th century from Russian. The Russian language, in turn, borrowed it from France and Germany, where the terms “intelligence” and “Intelligenz” came into use in the 1830s-1840s years to designate educated, “progressive” citizens [On the history of this term in. Western Europe and Russia see: Muller O.W. Intelligencija: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte eines politisches Schlagwortes. Frankfurt, 1971. According to the author (S. 98, note), the word “intelligent” was applied in France to specialists various areas already in the 15th century.]. In Europe, the term soon fell out of use; in Russia, on the contrary, it gained popularity in the second half of the 19th century not so much to designate the educated elite, but to define those who speak on behalf of the silent majority - as opposed to the traditional ruling stratum (bureaucrats, police, military, nobles, clergy). In a country where “society” did not have access to the political arena, the appearance of the described group was inevitable" (Pipes R. Russian Revolution. The Agony of the Old Regime. 1905-1917).
"What is the intelligentsia? Who gave birth to it and why? History gave birth to it. Outside of history, it is impossible to be an intellectual! It is mobile, restless, striving for social ideal estate. In its essence, due to the fact of birth, it can never calm down. It does not know how to think in the category of “survival”. If the intelligentsia demolishes a monument, it needs to put another one in its place. And certainly – inspiring, opening up the distance. If the intelligentsia renounces history, takes refuge from its wind in a flooded room, it renounces itself. And then she is no longer the intelligentsia, but a collective servant of the devil, helping to establish hell" (Rokotov V. Little vs. High).
"...the intelligentsia are those who, in monstrous living conditions, being financially limited, try to improve the human race. I filmed near Yaroslavl, in the old Russian city of Tutaev, which few people know about. There I was in the children's library - in a rickety house, the librarian buys books, toys, and makes them for the very few children who survived in the dying Tutaev. theme nights“Visiting the Fairy Tale”... There are no opportunities, their salaries are small, but they spend their tiny money, strength, imagination, their lives so that, perhaps, one child from the whole city will be imbued with something. This is what the intelligentsia is. Service! Quiet action. Soldiers of the invisible front. People asking questions, looking for answers, “pulling the thread connecting the past and the future” (Sergei Ursulyak: “The film adaptation involves a struggle with the viewer”).
See also: Intelligentsia, qualities of an intellectual, intelligence, -
They say about some people: “He is a real intellectual!” Does this mean that a person is well-mannered or smart, morally stable or a patriot? Let's figure out when this concept arose and what meaning is put into it.
Etymology of the word
"Intellectual" - this word has Latin roots. Literally translated as “knowing, understanding, thinking.” It came into use in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. In society, it was initially a kind of synonym for the word “nobility,” but later acquired a different meaning.
During the turbulent period of changing eras at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, advanced and enlightened minds Russian Empire propagated: “...to always fight and always lose”, “calmness is spiritual meanness”, “to live honestly means to fight and not be afraid to make mistakes.” This worldview renewed the concept of the intelligentsia. Its representative, the intellectual, is brave, decisive and fair man, patriot and courageous fighter for human rights. He is smart, fair, dedicated to his work. An intellectual is not a layman, but an active and useful member of society; his life is inseparable from a cause that is important to the people. Meaning this concept represented a kind of alternative to the word “revolutionary”.
Interpretation of this word in the 20th century in Russia and the West
After October revolution In 1917, the country lay in ruins. For its revival, strong labor hands were needed, so the workers became a privileged class, and intellectuals went into the shadows. Moreover, the word “intellectual” began to sound contemptuously. Now calling someone that way meant that the person was a parasite of society, a lazy person and a rogue useless to society.
In developed foreign countries this word also acquired a different meaning, but the vector of its renewal was completely different. In the West, "intellectual" is a synonym for the word "intellectual". It means people engaged in mental work. Scientists, teachers, doctors, artists and lawyers are intellectuals, regardless of moral values, they are not required to be the bearer of ideals.
Broad Russian soul
And what echo does this word find in the Slavic soul today? It is associated primarily with an educated and cultured member of society, fair, not an idle talker, capable of self-improvement and being an intellectual - an active and hardworking person, he is spiritually developed and pure in heart, swagger and arrogance are alien to him, he values culture and knowledge.
A true intellectual can equally successfully engage in both physical labor. It is only the type of activity that is important, but not the type. A steelworker can be a true intellectual at heart, but an artist can be an ordinary boor.
The content of the article
INTELLIGENTSIA(intelligentsia). There are two different approaches to defining the intelligentsia. Sociologists understand the intelligentsia as social group of people professionally engaged in mental work, development and spread of culture, usually having higher education. But there is another approach, the most popular in Russian social philosophy, according to which the intelligentsia includes those who can be considered moral standard of society. The second interpretation is narrower than the first.
The concept comes from the word of Latin origin intelligens, which meant “understanding, thinking, reasonable.” As is commonly believed, the word “intelligentsia” was introduced by the ancient Roman thinker Cicero.
Intelligentsia and intellectuals in foreign countries.
In modern developed countries, the concept of “intelligentsia” is used quite rarely. In the West, the term “intellectuals” is more popular, which denotes people who are professionally engaged in intellectual (mental) activities, without, as a rule, claiming to be carriers of “ highest ideals" The basis for identifying such a group is the division of labor between mental and physical workers.
People professionally engaged in intellectual activities (teachers, artists, doctors, etc.) already existed in antiquity and the Middle Ages. But they became a large social group only in the modern era, when the number of people engaged in mental work increased sharply. Only from this time can we talk about a sociocultural community, whose representatives, through their professional intellectual activities (science, education, art, law, etc.) generate, reproduce and develop cultural values, contributing to the education and progress of society.
Because the creative activity necessarily presupposes a critical attitude towards prevailing opinions; intellectual workers always act as bearers of “critical potential.” It was the intellectuals who created new ideological doctrines (republicanism, nationalism, socialism) and propagated them, thereby ensuring constant update systems of public values.
Since in the era of scientific and technological revolution the value of knowledge and creative thinking sharply increases, then modern world The number of people involved in mental work and their importance in the life of society are growing. IN post-industrial society intellectuals will become, according to some sociologists, “the new ruling class.”
In countries that are lagging behind in their development, the social group of intellectuals acquires special features. Understanding the backwardness of their country better than others, intellectuals become the main preachers of the values of modernization. As a result, they develop a sense of their own exclusivity, a claim to “higher knowledge” that everyone else is deprived of. Similar messianic traits are characteristic of intellectuals in all countries of catching-up development, but most strong development they received in Russia. This one special kind intellectuals are called intelligentsia.
Russian intelligentsia.
Peter I can be considered the “father” of the Russian intelligentsia, who created the conditions for the penetration of Western enlightenment ideas into Russia. Initially, the production of spiritual values was mainly carried out by people from the nobility. D.S. Likhachev calls the freethinking nobles of the late 18th century, such as Radishchev and Novikov, “the first typically Russian intellectuals.” In the 19th century, the bulk of this social group began to consist of people from non-noble strata of society (“raznochintsy”).
The widespread use of the concept of “intelligentsia” in Russian culture began in the 1860s, when journalist P.D. Boborykin began to use it in the mass press. Boborykin himself announced that he borrowed this term from German culture, where it was used to designate that layer of society whose representatives are engaged in intellectual activity. Declaring yourself " godfather” new concept, Boborykin insisted on the special meaning he put into this term: he defined the intelligentsia as persons of “high mental and ethical culture,” and not as “knowledge workers.” In his opinion, the intelligentsia in Russia is a purely Russian moral and ethical phenomenon. In this understanding, the intelligentsia includes people of different professional groups, belonging to different political movements, but having a common spiritual and moral basis. It was with this special meaning that the word “intelligentsia” then returned to the West, where it began to be considered specifically Russian (intelligentsia).
In Russian pre-revolutionary culture, in the interpretation of the concept of “intelligentsia,” the criterion of engaging in mental labor faded into the background. The main signs Russian intellectual features of social messianism began to appear: concern for the fate of one’s fatherland (civic responsibility); desire for social criticism, to fight what interferes national development(the role of a bearer of public conscience); the ability to morally empathize with the “humiliated and offended” (a sense of moral involvement). Thanks to a group of Russian philosophers of the “Silver Age”, authors of the acclaimed collection Milestones. Collection of articles about the Russian intelligentsia(1909), the intelligentsia began to be defined primarily through opposition to the official state power. At the same time, the concepts of “educated class” and “intelligentsia” were partially separated - not just any educated person could be classified as an intelligentsia, but only one who criticized the “backward” government. A critical attitude towards the tsarist government predetermined the sympathy of the Russian intelligentsia for liberal and socialist ideas.
The Russian intelligentsia, understood as a set of intellectuals opposed to the authorities, found itself in pre-revolutionary Russia a rather isolated social group. Intellectuals were viewed with suspicion not only by the official authorities, but also by the “ordinary people,” who did not distinguish intellectuals from “gentlemen.” The contrast between the claim to messianism and isolation from the people led to the cultivation of constant repentance and self-flagellation among Russian intellectuals.
A special topic of discussion at the beginning of the 20th century was the place of the intelligentsia in the social structure of society. Some insisted on a non-class approach: the intelligentsia did not represent any special social group and did not belong to any class; being the elite of society, it rises above class interests and expresses universal ideals (N.A. Berdyaev, M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky, R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik). Others (N.I. Bukharin, A.S. Izgoev, etc.) considered the intelligentsia within the framework of the class approach, but disagreed on the question of which class/classes to classify it in. Some believed that the intelligentsia includes people from different classes, but at the same time they do not constitute a single social group, and we should not talk about the intelligentsia in general, but about various types intelligentsia (for example, bourgeois, proletarian, peasant). Others attributed the intelligentsia to a very specific class. The most common variants were the assertion that the intelligentsia was part of the bourgeois class or the proletarian class. Finally, others generally singled out the intelligentsia as a special class.
Beginning in the 1920s, the composition of the Russian intelligentsia began to change dramatically. The core of this social group were young workers and peasants who gained access to education. The new government deliberately pursued a policy that made it easier for people from “working” backgrounds to obtain an education and made it more difficult for people of “non-labor” origin. As a result, with a sharp increase in the number of people with high education (if in the Russian Empire people with mental labor accounted for approximately 2-3%, then by the 1980s they made up more than a quarter of all workers in the USSR), there was a decrease in the quality of both their education and their general culture. The ethical component in the definition of the intelligentsia faded into the background; the “intelligentsia” began to be understood as all “knowledge workers” - the social “stratum”.
IN Soviet period Significant changes also occurred in the relationship between the intelligentsia and the authorities. The activities of the intelligentsia were brought under strict control. Soviet intellectuals were obliged to propagate the “only true” communist ideology(or, at a minimum, demonstrate loyalty to it).
Under conditions of ideological coercion characteristic feature The life of many Soviet intellectuals became alienated from political life, the desire to engage only in narrowly professional activities. Along with the officially recognized intelligentsia in the USSR, there remained a very small group of intellectuals who sought to defend the right to their independence and creative freedom from the ruling regime. They sought to destroy this oppositional part of the intelligentsia “as a class”: many were subjected to repression under far-fetched pretexts (one can recall the life of A. Akhmatova or I. Brodsky), all dissenters experienced pressure from censorship and restrictions on professional activity. In the 1960s, arose among Soviet intellectuals dissident movement, which remained until the end of the 1980s the only organized form of opposition in the USSR.
Modern Russian intelligentsia.
Opposition sentiments, widespread among Soviet intellectuals, found a way out in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it was the intelligentsia that led the total criticism of the Soviet system, predetermining its moral condemnation and death. In Russia in the 1990s, the intelligentsia received freedom of expression, but many intellectuals faced a sharp decline in their standard of living, which caused their disappointment in liberal reforms and increased critical sentiment. On the other hand, many prominent intellectuals were able to make careers and continued to support liberal ideology and liberal politicians. Thus, the post-Soviet intelligentsia was split into groups with different, largely polar positions.
In this regard, there is a point of view according to which the intelligentsia in the proper sense in modern Russia not anymore. Proponents of this position identify three periods of evolution domestic intelligentsia. At the first stage (from Peter’s reforms to the reform of 1861), the intelligentsia was just being formed, claiming the role of a scientific adviser to the official authorities. The second period (1860s - 1920s) is the time of the real existence of the intelligentsia. It was during this period that the confrontation “power – intelligentsia – people” arose and the main characteristics of the intelligentsia were formed (service to the people, criticism of the existing government). After this period, the “phantom” existence of the intelligentsia follows and continues to this day: any moral unity among educated people no longer exists, but some Russian intellectuals still strive to fulfill the mission of educating the authorities.
In modern Russia, both approaches to defining the concept of “intelligentsia” are popular - both moral and ethical (in philosophical and cultural studies) and socio-professional (in sociology). The difficulty of using the concept of “intelligentsia” in its ethical interpretation is associated with the uncertainty of the criteria by which one can judge whether people belong to this group. social group. Many former criteria—for example, opposition to the government—have become somewhat meaningless, and ethical characteristics are too abstract to be used for empirical research. The increasingly frequent use of the concept of “intelligentsia” in the meaning of “persons of mental labor” shows that there is a rapprochement between the Russian intelligentsia and Western intellectuals.
At the end of the 1990s in Russian science“Intellectual studies” arose as a special direction of interscientific humanities research. The Center for Intellectual Studies operates on the basis of Ivanovo State University, studying the intelligentsia as a phenomenon of Russian culture.
Natalia Latova
We would all like to communicate with cultured, enlightened, educated people who respect the boundaries of personal space. Intelligent people are just such ideal interlocutors.
Translated from Latin, intelligence means cognitive strength, skill, and ability to understand. Those who have intelligence - intellectuals, are usually involved in mental work and are distinguished by high culture. The signs of an intelligent person are:
- High level of education.
- Activities associated with creativity.
- Involvement in the process of dissemination, preservation and rethinking of culture and values.
Not everyone agrees that the intelligentsia includes a highly educated stratum of the population engaged in mental work. The opposition point of view understands intelligence primarily as the presence of a high moral culture.
Terminology
Based on the Oxford Dictionary definition, intelligentsia is a group that strives to think for itself. New hero culture - an individualist, one who can deny social norms and rules, in contrast to the old hero, who serves as precisely the embodiment of these norms and rules. The intellectual is thus a nonconformist, a rebel.
Gasparov traces the history of the term “intelligentsia”: at first it meant “people with intelligence”, then – “people with conscience”, later – “ good people" The researcher also gives Yarho’s original explanation of what “intelligent” means: this is a person who does not know much, but has a need, a thirst to know.
Who is an intelligent person and how does he differ from an intellectual? If an intellectual is a person who has a certain special spiritual and moral portrait, then intellectuals are professionals in their field, “people with intelligence.”
A high level of culture, tact, and good manners are the descendants of secularism, courtliness, philanthropy and grace. Good manners are not about “not sticking your fingers in your nose,” but the ability to behave in society and be reasonable - conscious care for yourself and others.
Gasparov emphasizes that currently, such an understanding of intelligence is relevant, which is associated with relationships between people. It's about not just about interpersonal interaction, but about one that has a special property - to see in another not a social role, but a human one, to treat the other as a person, equal and worthy of respect.
According to Gasparov, in the past the intelligentsia performed a function that wedged itself into the relationship between the higher and the lower. This is something more than just intelligence, education, and professionalism. The intelligentsia was demanded to reconsider fundamental principles society. Performing the function of self-awareness of society, intellectuals create an ideal, which is an attempt to experience reality from within the system.
This is in contrast to intellectuals, who, in response to the question of society’s self-awareness, create sociology - objective knowledge, a view “from the outside.” Intellectuals deal with schemes, clear and immutable, and the intelligentsia deal with feeling, image, standard.
Educating yourself
How to become an intelligent person? If intelligence is understood as respectful attitude to the individual, then the answer is simple: respect the boundaries of someone else’s psychological space, “don’t burden yourself.”
The strength of spirit of an intellectual, according to Lotman, allows him not to give in to difficulties. Intellectuals will do everything that is necessary, that cannot be avoided at a critical moment. Intelligence is a high spiritual flight, and people who are capable of this flight accomplish real feats, because they are able to stand where others give up, because they have nothing to rely on.
An intellectual is a fighter; he cannot tolerate evil and tries to eradicate it. The following qualities, according to Lotman and intelligence researcher Tepikin, are inherent in intellectuals (the most characteristic, coinciding between the two researchers):
- Kindness and tolerance.
- Integrity and willingness to pay for it.
- Resilience and fortitude.
- The ability to go to war for her ideals (an intelligent girl, just like a man, will defend what she considers worthy and honest).
- Independence of thinking.
- Fighting injustice.
The Russian philologist Likhachev noted the ease of communication of an intellectual, the complete absence of an intellectual. He identified the following qualities that are closely related to intelligence:
- Self-esteem.
- The ability to think.
- A proper degree of modesty, understanding the limitations of one’s knowledge.
- Openness, the ability to hear others.
- Be careful, you cannot be quick to judge.
- Delicacy.
- Prudence regarding the affairs of others.
- Persistence in defending a just cause (an intelligent man does not knock on the table).
You should be wary of becoming a semi-intellectual, like anyone who imagines that he knows everything. These people commit unforgivable mistakes– they don’t ask, don’t consult, don’t listen. They are deaf, for them there are no questions, everything is clear and simple. Such imaginations are intolerable and cause rejection.
1. Put yourself in the other person's shoes.
2. Feel the connectedness of all people, their commonality, fundamental similarity.
3. Clearly distinguish between your own and someone else’s territory. This means not loading others with information that is only interesting to yourself, not raising your voice above the average sound level in the room, and not getting too close.
4. Try to understand your interlocutor, respect him, perhaps practice proving other people’s points of view, but not condescendingly, but truly.
5. Be able to deny yourself, develop, deliberately creating a little discomfort and overcoming it gradually (carry candy in your pocket, but not eat it; engage in physical activity at the same time every day).
The intelligentsia as the conscience of the nation is gradually disappearing due to the emergence of a layer of professionals in power. Intellectuals will replace intellectuals in this field. But nothing can replace intelligence at work, among acquaintances and friends, on the street and in public institutions. A person must be intelligent in the sense of the ability to feel equals in his interlocutors, to show respect, because this is the only worthy form in communication between people. Author: Ekaterina Volkova
How many people of the current generation think about what intelligence is? How is it expressed and is it necessary for society at all? There were times when this word sounded like an insult, and sometimes vice versa - this was the name given to groups of people trying to pull Russia out of the darkness of ignorance and stupidity.
Etymology of the word
“Intelligence” is a word that comes from Latin. Iintelligence- cognitive power, the ability of perception, which, in turn, comes from the Latin intellectus- understanding, thinking. Despite the Latin origin of the word, the concept of “intellectual” is considered originally Russian and in the vast majority of cases is used only in the territory former USSR and among the Russian-speaking sections of the population.
The father of the term “intelligentsia” is considered to be the Russian liberalist writer Pyotr Bobrykin (1836-1921), who repeatedly used it in his critical articles, essays and novels. Initially, this was the name given to people of mental work: writers, artists and teachers, engineers and doctors. In those days there were very few such professions and people were grouped according to common interests.
Who is an intelligent person?
“Cultural and not swearing,” many will say. Some will add: “Smart.” And then they’ll add something about being educated and well-read. But are all doctors of science and great minds of this world intellectuals?
There are enough people in the world with a huge amount of knowledge, who have read thousands of books, polyglots and true masters of their craft. Does this automatically make them part of the intelligentsia, the social stratum?
The simplest definition of intelligence
One of the greatest minds of the Silver Age gave a very short but succinct definition of the concept of intelligence: “This higher culture human spirit, aimed at preserving the dignity of one’s neighbor.”
Such intelligence - that daily work is constant self-improvement, the result of enormous educational process over oneself, one’s personality, which first of all cultivates in a person the ability to be attentive and empathetic towards another living being. An intellectual, even if he commits a dishonest act under the will of circumstances, will suffer greatly from this and be tormented by remorse. He will rather do harm to himself, but will not be tainted by base things.
Universal human values inherent in an intellectual
According to the results social survey, most people pointed out the importance of education and good manners. But the great Faina Ranevskaya said: “It is better to be known as a good, but swearing, than a well-mannered bastard.” Therefore, higher education and knowledge of etiquette do not mean that you are an old-school intellectual. The following factors are more important:
- Compassion for the pain of others, no matter whether it is a person or an animal.
- Patriotism, expressed in actions, and not in shouting from the podium at rallies.
- Respect for other people's property: therefore, a true intellectual always pays debts, but takes them out extremely rarely, in the most critical cases.
- Politeness, compliance and gentleness of character are mandatory - they are the first calling card of the intelligentsia. Tactfulness is at the top of their attitude towards people: he will never put another person in an uncomfortable position.
- The ability to forgive.
- Absence of rudeness towards anyone: even if an impudent person pushes an intellectual, he will be the first to apologize for the inconvenience caused. Just don’t confuse this with cowardice: a coward is afraid, but an intellectual respects all people, no matter what they are.
- Lack of intrusiveness: out of respect for strangers, they are more likely to remain silent than to be frank with just anyone.
- Sincerity and unwillingness to lie: again, out of decency and love for the people around you, but more out of respect for yourself.
- An intellectual respects himself so much that he will not allow himself to be uneducated, unenlightened.
- A craving for beauty: a hole in the floor or a book thrown into the dirt excites their soul more than the lack of dinner.
From all this it becomes obvious that education and intelligence are not related concepts, although they interact. An intellectual is a rather complexly structured personality, which is why he is never loved by the lower strata of society: against the background of an esthete who has a keen sense of the world, they feel flawed and do not understand anything, which is why anger manifests itself, leading to violence.
Modern intellectual
What is intelligence in present time? Is it even possible to be like this in the arena of total degradation and dullness from the media, social networks and television shows?
All this is true, but universal human values do not change from era to era: at any time, tolerance and respect for others, compassion and the ability to put oneself in the place of another are important. Honor, inner freedom and depth of soul, together with a keen mind and a thirst for beauty, have always been and will be of paramount importance for evolution. And today's intellectuals are not much different from their brothers in the spirit of the century before last, when man - this really sounded proud. They are modest, honest with themselves and others, and are always kind from the heart, and not for the sake of PR. On the contrary, a spiritually developed person will never be proud of his actions, achievements and actions, but at the same time he will try to do everything possible to become at least a little better, knowing that by changing himself, he changes to to the best all the world.
Do modern society need intellectuals?
Education and intelligence now are as important an aspect as global warming or cruelty to animals. The thirst for money and universal adoration has so captured society that modest attempts by individuals to raise the level of human awareness resemble the painful efforts of a woman giving birth, who, despite all the pain, sacredly believes in a successful outcome.
It is necessary to believe that intelligence is such a culture of the soul. This is not the amount of knowledge, but actions in accordance with moral principles. Perhaps then our world, mired in the mud of a distorted mind, will be saved. Humanity needs bright-hearted individuals, intellectuals of the spirit, who will promote the purity of relationships without mercantile motives, the importance spiritual growth and the need for knowledge as the initial basis for subsequent development.
When does the formation of moral qualities occur?
In order to be, or rather, to feel like an intellectual and not be burdened by this burden, it is necessary to absorb the inclinations with mother’s milk, to be brought up in the appropriate environment and environment, then highly moral behavior will be like a part of the being, like a hand or an eye.
It is for this reason that it is important not only to raise a child in in the right direction, and also serve it yourself clear example rational actions, right actions, and not just words.
