Introduction, Important Definitions and Related
Concepts:
An intellectual is one who tries to use his or
her
intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate, or ask
and answer questions about a wide variety of different
ideas. There are, broadly, three modern definitions
at work in discussions about intellectuals. First,
“intellectuals” as those deeply involved in ideas,
books, and the life of the mind. Second, “intellectuals”
as a recognizable occupational
class consisting of lecturers, professors, lawyers,
doctors, engineers, scientists, etc. Third, “cultural
intellectuals” are those of notable expertise in culture
and the arts, expertise which allows them some cultural
authority, which they then use to speak in public on
other matters. The expression "man of letters", has been
used in many cultures to describe contemporary
intellectuals. The term implied a distinction between
those "who knew their letters" and those who did not.
The distinction thus had great weight when
literacy was not widespread. "Men of letters" were
also termed literati (from the
Latin), as a group; this phrase may also refer to
the 'citizens' of the
Republic of Letters. Literati survives as a
term of abuse and is used in journalism. Literatus,
in the singular, is rarely found in
English - the English term is litterateur (from the
Frenchlittérateur). The Republic of Letters
grew during the late 1700s in France in salons, many of
which were run by women. The term is rarely used to
denote "scholars". From Latin
intellectus, perfect passive participle of
intellegere, reason or understand;
from prefix
intel-, into, from
intus, +
legere, read, with connotation of bind.
any conception existing in the mind
as a result of mental understanding,
awareness, or activity.
2.
a thought, conception, or notion:
That is an excellent idea.
3.
an impression:
He gave me a general idea of how he
plans to run the department.
4.
an opinion, view, or belief:
His ideas on raising children are
certainly strange.
5.
a plan of action; an intention:
the idea of becoming an engineer.
6.
a groundless supposition; fantasy.
7.
Philosophy.
a.
a concept developed by
the mind.
b.
a conception of what is
desirable or ought to
be; ideal.
c.
(initial
capital letter)
Platonism.
Also called
form.
an archetype or pattern
of which the individual
objects in any natural
class are imperfect
copies and from which
they derive their being.
[Origin:
1400–50; < LL < Gk
idéā form,
pattern, equiv. to
ide- (s. of ideǐn
to see) + -ā fem.
n. ending; r. late ME
idee < MF < LL, as above; akin to
wit1]
—Related forms
i·de·a·less,
adjective
—Synonyms 1, 2.Idea,
thought,
conception,notion
refer to a product of mental activity.
Idea,
although it may refer to thoughts of any
degree of seriousness or triviality, is
commonly used for mental concepts considered
more important or elaborate:
We pondered the idea of the fourth
dimension. The idea of his arrival
frightened me.
Thought, which reflects its primary
emphasis on the mental process, may denote
any concept except the more weighty and
elaborate ones:
I welcomed his thoughts on the subject. A
thought came to him.
Conception suggests a thought that
seems complete, individual, recent, or
somewhat intricate:
The architect's conception delighted them.
Notion suggests a fleeting, vague, or
imperfect thought:
a bare notion of how to proceed. 4.
sentiment, judgment.
Social class
refers to the
hierarchical distinctions (or
stratification) between individuals or
groups in
societies or
cultures. Usually individuals are
grouped into classes based on their economic
positions and similar political and economic
interests within the stratification system.
Most societies, especially
nation states, seem to have some notion
of social class.[citation
needed]. However, class
is not a universal phenomenon. Many
hunter-gatherer societies do not have
social classes, often lack permanent
leaders, and actively avoid dividing their
members into hierarchical power structures.[1]The factors that determine class vary
widely from one society to another. Even
within a society, different people or groups
may have very different ideas about what
makes one "higher" or "lower" in the
social hierarchy. Some questions
frequently asked when trying to define class
include 1) the most important criteria in
distinguishing classes, 2) the number of
class divisions that exist, 3) the extent to
which individuals recognize these divisions
if they are to be meaningful, and 4) whether
or not class divisions even exist in the US
and other industrial societies.
Kerbo, Harold R. (1996). Social
stratification and inequality: class
conflict in historical and comparative
perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill, 12.
ISBN 0-07-034258-X..
The theoretical debate over the definition
of class remains an important one today.
Sociologist Dennis Wrong defines class in
two ways - realist and nominalist. The
realist definition relies on clear class
boundaries to which people adhere in order
to create social groupings. They identify
themselves with a particular class and
interact mainly with people in this class.
The nominalist definition of class focuses
on the characteristics that people share in
a given class - education, occupation, etc.
Class is therefore determined not by the
group in which you place yourself or the
people you interact with, but rather by
these common characteristics.
Kerbo, Harold R. (1996). Social
stratification and inequality: class
conflict in historical and comparative
perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill, 142.
ISBN 0-07-034258-X.
. The most basic class distinction between
the two groups is between the powerful and
the powerless.[citation
needed] People in
social classes with greater
power attempt to cement their own
positions in society and maintain their
ranking above the lower social classes in
the
social hierarchy. Social classes with a
great deal of power are usually viewed as
elites, at least within their own
societies. In the less complex societies,
power/class hierarchies may or may not
exist. In societies where they do exist,
power may be linked to physical strength,
and therefore age,
gender, and physical
health are common delineators of class.[citation
needed] However,
spiritual
charisma and religious
vision can be at least as important.[citation
needed] Also, because
different livelihoods are so closely
intertwined in less complex societies,
morality often ensures that the old, the
young, the weak, and the sick maintain a
relatively equal standard of living despite
low class.[citation
needed].
After 2,300 years, Latin
began a slow decline around the
1600s. Vulgar Latin however
was preserved in several
regional dialects, which by the
800s had become the
ancestors of today's
Romance languages. Latin
lives on in the form of
Ecclesiastical Latin spoken
in the Catholic Church. Some
Latin vocabulary is still used
in
science,
academia, and
law.
Classical Latin, the
literary language of the
late Republic and early Empire,
is still taught in many primary,
grammar, and secondary schools,
often combined with
Greek in the study of
Classics, though its role
has diminished since the early
20th century. The
Latin alphabet, together
with its modern variants such as
the
English,
Spanish and
French alphabets, is the
most widely used alphabet in the
world. A republic is a
state or
country that is not led by a
hereditary
monarch,[1][2]
where the people of that state
or country (or at least a part
of that people)[3]
have impact on its government,[4]
and that is usually indicated as
a republic.[5]The detailed organization
of republics' governments can
vary widely. A letter is
an element in an
alphabetic system of
writing, such as the
Greek alphabet and its
descendants. Each letter in the
written language is usually
associated with one
phoneme (sound) in the
spoken form of the language.
Written signs in earlier
writings are best called
syllabograms (which denote a
syllable) or
logograms (which denote a
word or phrase).
Audio
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