# What is an "intellectual"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 23, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-intellectual/332463 "2005-11-23T19:47:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-intellectual/332463/21 "2005-11-28T18:23:38Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Brain Glutton** , good thread. I like the essay’s definition of _intellectual_, but I’m wondering what the basis was for disqualifying Stevenson from that category. According to the author of the editorial (whose name I forget), Stevenson, while highly educated and articulate, rarely read books, and was not really much of a thinker; he only looked like one next to Eisenhower. > [@Zoe](#): > > Also, I agree that he wasn’t a Leftist, but in my opinion, he was a Liberal. Are you using those terms to mean the same thing? No – and most of the figures Paul Johnson flays in _Intellectuals_ were leftists as distinct from liberals. But a lot of other right-wingers seem to blur the distinction. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-intellectual/332463/22 "2005-11-28T18:25:27Z")
> [@Plan B](#): > > The two best definitions I’ve heard are: > > An intellectual is someone who is educated beyond his intelligence, and > An intellectual is someone who is more committed to a point of view than to reality. Where did you get those definitions? And would you care to defend either of them? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-intellectual/332463.md?page=1)