Intelligent man
History of the word intelligentsia has been well known since its borrowing from Polish in 1862. Post-reform Russian magazines seized on the word denoting the “thinking class” of their time, and depending on their class position, they either praised or condemned the “intelligentsia” in every possible way. On the one hand, these are “people of critical thought, people of the intelligentsia” (P. L. Lavrov), on the other, “the insignificance of people, the so-called intelligentsia” (censor A. V. Nikitenko). These facets were important in the mid-19th century.
Original root - Latin word intellectus(mind, mind). Reason as opposed to feeling and spirit. Intellectual, we would say today about this meaning of the word. It was perceived as such at the end of the last century. In 1899, the poet Valery Bryusov considered it necessary to translate the new word into the French he knew: “society intellectuals (intellectuals), which I can’t stand.” Historian V. O. Klyuchevsky writes in 1897:
This word has recently come into use among us and is still only used in newspaper slang. It is not beautiful, although it has a classical origin. It’s ugly because it’s inaccurate and doesn’t mean what it wants to mean. It actually means a person who understands, understands, and they usually call a person with a scientific and literary education. As you can see, these are different concepts, although not opposite.
To a professor who knows Latin, the new meaning of the word seems strange: why? educated, if the root itself points to the value understanding? A foreign word, having become a term of Russian social life, does not immediately adapt to Russian speech on the pages of magazines.
They make fun of it, deliberately lowering its meaning. For Goncharov, a sign of the intelligentsia is writing poetry, for Saltykov-Shchedrin it is idleness against the general background of leisure, for the fashionable writer Boborykin it is intelligence, especially among ladies.
At first, only one thing is clear: the intelligentsia is opposed to the common people. “And an intellectual,” explains Shelgunov, “is not everyone who thinks. You have to know what to think, you have to be able to think.” A familiar motive - to know and be able to! The words spoken in 1875 express the opinion of progressive people in Russia, who believe that the main sign of an intellectual is spiritual quest, the desire for social ideals, for business.
In memoir literature we will find many indications of how the intellectual was perceived in contrast to the “cultured people” from the aristocratic salon. We said about someone: “This is a typical intellectual, he doesn’t shave every day, eats out of a knife and doesn’t kiss ladies’ hands...” Or: “This is not a real lady, this is an intellectual, she gives her last name when men are introduced to her.”
But such purely external characteristics did little to disturb those in power; they understood that “in intelligent circles there was mental work going on incriminating and even irritating against the order of things” (from the file of the gendarmerie department). Not to notice this meant opening the way to revolutionary forces. And in the early 80s, Novoye Vremya - a reactionary, protective newspaper - at the direct instigation of the government, unexpectedly exploded with an article directed against the intelligentsia.
“The press was alarmed,” Shelgunov wrote, “and discussions began about who and what should be considered the intelligentsia, which intelligentsia are real and which are not real. Since then, this question has never left the stage and formed the central point of the entire mental movement of the eighties.” Not only the 80s, but further - right up to the 20th century.
In social clashes, that moral force, not yet defined by a precise term, which the watchdogs of the autocracy already felt, matured and grew stronger. “Intelligence was not science, not knowledge, but some higher, all-resolving principle or source, in which all the highest and most correct resolution of all the ambiguities of life was concentrated,” N.V. Shelgunov wrote at the same time.
The reactionaries demanded, and the Minister of Internal Affairs was ready to eliminate the expression from use Russian intelligentsia. Important clarification: Russian. Not at all the same meaning as in the previous collective name intelligentsia, the new expression carries with it a social charge of great power. Gradually the concept of an intellectual matured - a Russian word and a Russian concept. “Not every mental worker,” K. Chukovsky correctly noted, “but only one whose life and beliefs were colored by the idea of serving the people,” an intellectual. In the dictionaries of other languages the word intellectual in this meaning it entered as a Russian word.
The word constantly changed not its meaning - the main meaning, but those elusive social and moral shades due to the passage of time, which alone constituted the term of fast-flowing political life - then, in the heat of battle. We see: first intelligentsia- every educated society, then - the middle class, independent of class boundaries, and even later - the cultural stratum in society. And this whole mass of people, focusing on one common cause, gradually became the embodied conscience of their time, the bearer of high ideals necessarily associated with serving their people. To clarify the concept in this particular sense, additional definitions were initially used: advanced intelligentsia, proletarian intelligentsia, workers' intelligentsia.
The dual nature of the pre-revolutionary Russian intelligentsia was reflected in the emergence of new words, derivatives, secondary ones. Intelligent In terms of cultural appeared around 1870, and intellectual- belonging to the intelligentsia - a little later, around 1880. The choice of adjectives was good. Not only are they all purely Russian words, there is also a semantic difference between them. Intelligentsky- one who belongs to the intelligentsia, and there can be many such signs, including those that are not entirely worthy. Intelligent but this or that which is inherent in an intellectual constitutes his main attribute and is a characteristic of a person, not a class.
That's why the combination appeared: intelligent person, not intellectual- personal quality, not belonging to a social group. In the last century, first of all, work and professions began to be called intelligent. Chekhov spoke about intelligent life, Korolenko - about intelligent conscience. Everything is in an abstract sense, but everything is about the manifestations of human mental activity. Based on the transfer of meaning from activity to person, which is already familiar to us, combinations arise that successively replace each other: intelligentsia people, then intelligent people, and from the end of the 19th century intelligent person- separately, independently, as an expression of personality. One of the early examples is in Korolenko’s journalism: “Two intelligent people and ten men.”
As soon as different adjectives began to form, they immediately tried to evaluate them: what was good and what was not so good.
Definition intellectual, as condemned, did not develop further. From a stable combination intelligent people, intelligent person according to the general law of the Russian language, compressed into one word, the designation first arose intellectual, and since the 80s - intelligence, the very intelligence that over time became the most common sign of an intelligent person. But history is unpredictable. From intelligent the word was formed intellectualism- narrow interests of the circle to the detriment of national interests.
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Intelligence is not only high intelligence and brilliant education, it is also good manners, the ability to live in harmony with oneself and others, in accordance with one’s conscience, it is an active civic position, the concept of honor and dignity, the desire for truth.
In order to educate yourself and not stand below the level of the environment in which you find yourself, it is not enough to read only Pickwick and memorize a monologue from Faust.<…>Here you need continuous day and night work, eternal reading, studying, will... Every hour is precious here...
And while someone quietly laughs at intellectuals because of their emphasized correctness and intellectuality, all over the world they are talking about the Russian intelligentsia as a cultural phenomenon, a phenomenon that originated in the Russian Empire and marked the beginning of the identification of a special, albeit very small, stratum of society throughout the rest of the world.
A nation that does not value intelligence is doomed to destruction. The history of the Russian intelligentsia is the history of Russian thought.
D. S. Likhachev, “The Book of Worries”
A.P. Chekhov and D.S. Likhachev are considered to be true Russian intellectuals. In a letter to his brother Nikolai, young Chekhov cited a kind of code of an intelligent person, on which the following advice is largely based.
How to become more intelligent
1. Respect others
Moreover, this respect should go beyond compliance with subordination and basic rules of behavior. It is also respect for the feelings and desires of others, empathy, and to some extent even sympathy. Yes, it is not easy to force yourself to sympathize with others if you are not used to doing this. But it is work on oneself that distinguishes intelligent people.
They respect the human personality, and therefore are always condescending, soft, polite, compliant...
A.P. Chekhov, letter to his brother Nikolai, 1886
2. Don't lie
Remember that first of all you are lying to yourself. Intelligent people also consider meaningless grandstanding, flattery, and throwing dust into the eyes as lies. Any deception is unacceptable for them.
They are sincere and fear lies like fire. They don't lie even about trifles. A lie is offensive to the listener and vulgarizes the speaker in his eyes. They don’t show off, they behave on the street the same way as at home, they don’t show off dust in the eyes of the smaller brethren...
A.P. Chekhov, letter to his brother Nikolai, 1886
3. Be humble
Intelligent people have a slightly different perception of values. They are not vain.
They are not interested in such fake diamonds as meeting celebrities, the handshake of a drunken Plevako, the delight of someone they meet at the Salon, fame from porter...
A.P. Chekhov, letter to his brother Nikolai, 1886
More often they are silent and prefer not to impose their opinions on others, especially when they are not asked. They do not open up in vain and do not seek the attention of others by humiliating themselves.
In this, it is definitely worth taking an example from intellectuals. Modesty and moderation will help you in many areas of life, you just have to try on yourself and accept this philosophy.
4. Strive for aesthetics
An intellectual is an esthete. He admires the harmony of thought, talent, sophistication of images, grace and humanity. It is the intellectuals who are the main guardians of what we are accustomed to calling “eternal values.” Try to be like them. You don't have to have a degree to understand and admire literature. You don’t need to paint pictures yourself to receive aesthetic pleasure from artists’ works.
They cultivate aesthetics in themselves. They cannot sleep in their clothes, see cracks with bedbugs on the wall, breathe crappy air, walk on a spit-stained floor, or eat from a kerosene stove. They try to tame and refine the sexual instinct as much as possible.
A.P. Chekhov, letter to his brother Nikolai, 1886
5. Protect your talent
Believe that you are talented. And take care of your gift. Intelligent people value talent above everything else, and this is what allows them to remain representatives of the “intellectual elite”, to create and create.
If they have talent, they respect it. They sacrifice peace, women, wine, vanity for him... They are proud of their talent.
A.P. Chekhov, letter to his brother Nikolai, 1886
6. Strive for inner freedom
Someone generally puts the feeling of freedom at the forefront of the issue of intellectuals and intelligence. Indeed, an intelligent person is free from a lot of things that others are dependent on.
The basic principle of intelligence is intellectual freedom, freedom as a moral category. An intelligent person is not free only from his conscience and his thoughts.
D. S. Likhachev, “On the Russian intelligentsia. Letter to the editor", 1993
Intelligence is a difficult path that is not suitable for everyone. Not everyone is ready to “squeeze out a slave drop by drop” every day. But there is no doubt that those who take this path receive something immeasurably more than just a set of positive qualities.
The word “intelligentsia” has changed its meaning more than once, from the noble to the most contemptuous, which once again proves that language is a living organism. But a new time has come and there are even more interpretations, and dictionaries are obliged to record everything in order to please every subjective view. Some openly equate the intellectual with a snob, insisting that he is just a representative of a subculture of pompous proud people, others consider the intelligentsia a class of intellectual producers who should occupy a special position in society. So who is an intellectual?
Since reinterpreting the meaning of this concept has become fashionable, we ourselves decided to offer you the image of an intellectual. First of all, it must be said that it is idealistic, that is, it is as friendly as possible to people. She argues that everyone can be a representative of the intelligentsia, regardless of status, profession and financial status, in other words, the intelligentsia is a cultural and ethical concept that is primarily based on material achievements. Here is a list of ten rules that form it.
1) Philanthropy
2) The value of time
Despite his altruism, an intellectual understands that some people simply waste his time. He easily breaks ties with annoying people who do not share his values and shamelessly impose their own, and never argues with a person if the only point of a verbal skirmish is to satisfy his pride. A self-sufficient person knows his own worth and does not need to pointlessly establish himself in front of someone, paying with time. The intellectual is also strict with activities that rob him. He carefully plans his leisure time so as not to fork out for nonsense that distracts him from self-development.
3) Education
Representatives of the intelligentsia pay great attention to manners. They tactfully tell people where they made a mistake and never make them feel ashamed. Intellectuals know how to keep secrets and do not participate in the spread of rumors and gossip - they are not bothered by hidden malice, and if a polite person wants to speak out, he will do it delicately but straightforwardly.
4) Modesty
An intellectual will never allow even an indirect hint of his high status. In the company, he is just an employee of a certain profession, even if he has acquired excessive influence and wealth, he conducts the conversation in one language and does not insert quotes in a foreign language into his speech, does not boast about the countries he has visited, but simply moves on to history, as if he had read it from a book. In a word, the less “I” in a conversation, the more personality is revealed.
5) Education and self-education
An intellectual loves knowledge and acquiring new talents. He definitely gets a university diploma, if only because he likes to study, and his leisure time is filled with books, magazines and various articles from the Internet. An educated intellectual does not boast of knowledge: he never speaks in sophisticated words in mundane companies to show his superiority, and does not reproach a person for not reading Doctor Zhivago; moreover, perhaps the intellectual himself is not familiar with this novel . You won’t learn or re-read everything, but you need to know and understand the key works of culture and science and try to attract the attention of others to them.
6) Competent speech
Language is a reflection of the culture of the people, so it must be treated with extreme care. An intellectual is conservative in relation to foreign words and prefers to replace them with Russian analogues, but he never opposes an already established tradition, that is, with his input, a “hobby” can turn into a “passion,” but no one will call a fountain a water cannon. Considerable importance is given to vocabulary and sentence construction to beautifully express thoughts.
What will an intellectual shout when he hits his finger with a hammer? The same as all people. A well-mannered person knows the words of the popular language very well, but in public he uses them once every hundred years, so that the curse is a real impression, and not garbage that is constantly mixed into speech. If a person must express his position on an absurd issue or opinion about a disgusting character, he will use wit or simply remain silent.
7) Independent point of view
A critical mind does not allow itself to be misled. Despite convincing persuasion, an intellectual always makes decisions on his own. He meticulously studies all sides of the issue, using different sources of information, and then takes the opponent’s position and tries to defend it, in order to ultimately act as a judge and decide who is right - the defense or the prosecution. The cool and impartial gaze of criticism disarms any lie, even if it is pleasant - an intelligent person is, first of all, honest with himself.
8) Patriotism
An intellectual is a convinced patriot and an equally convinced cosmopolitan. The whole world is his home and all foreigners are his brothers, but he has only one homeland and he needs to take care of it. A representative of the intellectual class does everything to make life better for his fatherland, and never laments that his country is worse than others. Patriots live in the best states, which they create themselves.
9) Respect for culture
Despite the fact that culture is determined by the entire people, it is the intelligentsia that guides it through eras. Through their work, its representatives preserve the history of the mentality of the people, and not only their own, and thanks to this they form the worldview of future generations.
10) Wealth
A thinking person must be able to realize himself, and for this it is not at all necessary to chase giant heights. The successes of an intellectual in life are a stable income from a favorite job, a happy family, loyal friends and, of course, a contribution to the well-being and development of society.
Conversation with elements of the discussion “An intelligent person. What is he like?
Tasks: to form ideas about intelligence as the highest manifestation of a person’s education, his beauty, to prove the need for intelligence in all life circumstances.
Progress of preparation.
1. Offer students the following tasks: answer questions from Academician D.S. Likhacheva: does everyone need to be intelligent people if their profession does not require it? Can a person be considered intelligent if he was unable to obtain an education due to circumstances? Is intelligence necessary if it makes a person a “black sheep” among friends, family, colleagues, and simply interferes with his rapprochement with other people? Is it possible to develop intelligence in yourself? Prepare a story about your meeting with an intelligent person “A person’s social duty is to be intelligent. This is a duty to yourself. This is the key to his personal happiness” (D.S. Likhachev).
Plan - a summary of the conversation.
1. What does it mean to be an intelligent person?
Excerpts from the book by D. S. Likhachev “Letters about the good and the beautiful”
“An intelligent person is one who does not necessarily have to know a lot, memorize poems by heart, but is capable of perceiving cultural values, capable of admiring the beauty of nature, understanding a person’s character, and being in his position to help him.”
“An intelligent person is one who has read a lot, received a good education (and even mainly a humanitarian one), traveled a lot, knows several languages?”
Intelligence is manifested not only in knowledge, but in thousands of little things: in the ability to argue respectfully, to behave modestly, in the ability to help others, to take care of nature, not to litter around oneself with cigarette butts, swearing, and bad ideas.
2. For discussion, students are offered a situation from N. Vaulin’s article “Honesty according to the price list” (“Literaturnaya Gazeta”):
“The woman, who received her salary, went shopping. Getting off the trolleybus,
she discovered that she had left her bag there with her passport, money, keys to the apartment...
In the evening, a bell rang in the woman’s apartment. A very polite male voice asked if she had lost anything. He said that his wife had found the bag, that they were decent people and the woman could come get her bag.
The woman, taking a box of chocolates with her, arrived at the specified address. The owner gave the impression of an intelligent man, very busy, as he worked as a teacher and was fond of collecting badges. After a nice “small” conversation, the owner presented a list of things that were in total with their exact estimate down to the penny. The estimate even included the cost of a notebook and a handkerchief, and he said that the woman should pay one-fourth of the total amount for the find, “according to state law” and “in accordance with conscience” as it should be among “decent intelligent people.”
Questions for students:1. Can this person be considered intelligent and decent? 2. What would you do if you were his wife who found the bag? In your husband's place?
3. What character traits of a man can be judged by his behavior? What can you say about his upbringing?
4. How would you react to a man’s offer to pay him the due amount?
3. After discussing the issues, the teacher introduces students to the statements of a scientist, writer, artist on the issue of discussion.
“We understand the word “intellectual” differently. Often it is simplified to mean a person of mental labor. But not every person who does mental work is truly an intellectual. Intelligence is not so much knowledge as the ability to understand, to enjoy reading books, watching a good film, or a theater production. Intelligence is necessary for a person in all life circumstances” (D.S. Likhachev).
“Some people think that all they have to do is master a new system of manners and interests and they will become intelligent. A pseudo-intellectual may be knowledgeable in cultural life, be a regular at some elite club... They strive to become privileged. They are interested in the external attributes of culture. They live for themselves, seek only their own benefit, and are afraid that they will be seen through and understood.
An intellectual does not necessarily have to know and love everything, but he must be a decent person, hardworking, selfless and kind, modest. An intellectual is distinguished by education and the desire for education, civil courage, the fight for truth, the ability to see shortcomings, and creative passion” (V. Kataev).
“Some people consider a man with glasses and a naturally narrow face to be an intellectual; for others, he is the personification of intelligence in a leather jacket, and so on. Among the classics, I would call Chekhov an intellectual. Apparently because for us Chekhov is the personification of some kind of human harmony, high spirituality, subtle soul, amazing delicacy and sensitivity, softness and at the same time harshness, even sometimes cruelty, but in relation to cruelty.
Is it possible for everyone to be intelligent? Is this necessary? What do we prefer: to be surrounded by people who know how to hear your pain and openly tell the truth, even if this promises them nothing but trouble? Or rowing only for themselves, victorious with some in one situation, and throwing mud at them when the situation has changed? After all, it happens that a person talks beautifully and a lot, but on the surface there is such emptiness, such rot... And yet... Without education, without a culture of constantly driving into oneself the spiritual heritage, it is impossible to be intelligent” (L. Durov).
Literature:
1. Aleshina. About politeness, about tact, about delicacy.
2. Likhachev. Native land.
3. Sukhomlinsky. Homeland in the heart.
4. Tolstykh, Erengress, Makarov. Aesthetic education
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 refers to a purely 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. The new cultural hero is 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 a conscience,” and 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 “keeping your fingers out of 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. We are talking 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 relations between the higher and the lower. This is something more than just intelligence, education, and professionalism. The intelligentsia was required to revise the fundamental principles of 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 a respectful attitude towards 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 make 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