# Heroes who are intellectuals

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-who-are-intellectuals/495995>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 11, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-who-are-intellectuals/495995 "2009-05-11T04:38:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-who-are-intellectuals/495995/61 "2009-05-13T05:45:33Z")

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> [@Sparrow](#):
>
> Captain Jean-Luc Picard!

I would definitely add: Data.

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**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-who-are-intellectuals/495995/62 "2009-05-13T05:54:57Z")

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Sherlock Holmes is most definitely an intellectual. He’s too much of an individual to be called textbook example, but he definitely reeks of it. It’s not only in how smart he is and how well he cracks his cases (which, btw, demands a lot of creative thinking), but in his whole attitude and how England is seemingly his own little sandbox.

He is knowledgable, he plays the violin and he’s a boxer. I dare say that even when he boxes, he boxes “with his brain”, as it were.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-who-are-intellectuals/495995/63 "2009-05-13T06:19:16Z")

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> [@njtt](#):
>
> Also, P.D. James’ detective hero, Adam Dalgliesh, who has published several volumes of poetry.

If that qualifies P.D. James, then we should mention George Smiley, the master spy in several of John Le Carre’s novels. George Smiley’s academic interest is 17[sup]th[/sup] century German literature. (ETA: I should have noticed that there is a page 2 to this thread, I see that Linty Fresh has already named George Smiley.)

And we should also mention Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, the Thinking Machine of Jacques Futrelle’s stories, who “was a Ph.D., an LL.D., an F.R.S., an M.D., and an M.D.S. He was also some other things — just what he himself couldn’t say — through recognition of his ability by various foreign educational and scientific institutions.” (quote from [The Problem of Cell 13](http://www.futrelle.com/stories/TheProblemOfCell13.html))

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-who-are-intellectuals/495995/64 "2009-05-13T14:38:03Z")

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> [@cactus\_waltz](#):
>
> Sherlock Holmes is most definitely an intellectual. He’s too much of an individual to be called textbook example, but he definitely reeks of it. It’s not only in how smart he is and how well he cracks his cases (which, btw, demands a lot of creative thinking), but in his whole attitude and how England is seemingly his own little sandbox.
> 
> He is knowledgable, he plays the violin and he’s a boxer. I dare say that even when he boxes, he boxes “with his brain”, as it were.

Holmes almost defines the word. An intellectual can solve problems in one discipline by applying lessons learned in an unrelated one. While Holmes wasn’t literature’s first detective, he did distinguish himself by being the first to use medical methods of inquiry to solve crimes.

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