How to become an intelligent person? Recipe by Dmitry Likhachev

“Letters about the Good and the Beautiful” by Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is a reference book for many, and it is no coincidence: re-reading the letters that the 80-year-old academician addressed to young people 30 years ago, you feel warmth and support - you are on the right path, keep it up. The book was recently republished, and we decided to remember the letters that resonate most in the summer, when we travel more, communicate with different people - about what it means to travel and what it means to be intelligent.

Every conversation between an elderly person and a young person turns into a lesson. The situation has always been this way and will probably always remain so. I will try to be brief and speak only about the most important thing for myself - as it seems to me, to share the experience of my life.

For my conversations with the reader, I chose the form of letters. This is, of course, a conditional form. I imagine the readers of my letters as friends. Letters to friends allow me to write simply.

Definition of the concept

Intelligence (translated from Latin means thinking, understanding) is a set of qualities of an individual that meets the expectations of a cultural society. There are also other definitions of this concept.

1. The ability to think, the ability to make independent judgments about the universe, about the manifestations of human actions.
2. Tolerant character, nobility, intelligence and reliability of words.
3. A combination of a hard-working mind, a noble soul and a truthful heart.
4. The ability to understand, accept everything new, always respect the opinions of other people, demonstrate your emotions, and not allow interference in the personal space of another person.
5. The ability to withstand rudeness, uncultured behavior, and fight back against injustice. Such an individual has high moral values ​​and a developed sense of nobility.

You need to know what advantages intelligence has:

• allows you to show emotions and gain new knowledge;
• gives freedom, allowing you to express your thoughts;
• an intelligent person can understand the meaning of the common good;
• rewards with strength to resist evil injustice and rude civilization;
• confidence in one's strengths and capabilities, self-belief;
• An intelligent man or woman has the opportunity to show interest in life and be friendly to the people around him.

conclusions

Thus, we have formed a certain image of the concept of “intelligence”. What it is, how this trait manifests itself and what it can give to its bearer - all this is now easier to imagine.

We like the manifestation of this trait in other people, because communication with such individuals is extremely pleasant. To improve yourself, it is worth developing and maintaining intelligence. What it is for you personally - you will determine when you realize what you need. Let us briefly summarize the generally accepted concept in such a way that intelligence is expressed in the emotional, intellectual, cultural, and ethical aspects of the human personality.

The value of intelligence is great. Develop these qualities in yourself, it will be easier for you to form a full-fledged personality. Thus, developing intelligence in oneself means growing above all oneself.

Characteristics of an intellectual

An intelligent person can be identified by the presence of certain qualities, especially if we consider an intellectual of the old school.

1. Pure patriotism, which is manifested by real actions.
2. Feeling compassion for the pain of other people and animals.
3. Soft, polite, compliant character.
4. Absence of a rude attitude towards any person, even if he behaves rudely towards an intellectual.
5. Craving for everything beautiful.
6. The ability to forgive people.
7. Sincere truthfulness, decent attitude towards others, respect.
8. Passion for education, constant self-development.
9. In the speech of such an individual, quotes and aphorisms are often used. catchphrases, no rude phrases.

Links

30px Wikiquote has a page on the topic of Intellectuals

• Ivanov-Razumnik
  . [https://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/intell/ivan_chtotak.php What is the intelligentsia?] // gumer.info
• [https://vikent.ru/enc/3557 The emergence of the term “intelligentsia” in Russian]
• Gramsci A. [https://www.revkom.com/index.htm?/biblioteka/levie/gramshi/gr-ogl.htm Formation of the intelligentsia]
• Trotsky L.
  [https://www.magister.msk.ru/library/trotsky/trotl491.htm About the intelligentsia]
• G. Fedotov
  [https://gondola.zamok.net/154/154fedotov_1.html Tragedy of the intelligentsia]
• Uvarov Pavel Borisovich
  [https://www.cspu.ru/uchenomu/nauchnoe_obshestvo/nauchnie_raboti.html Children of Chaos: a historical phenomenon of the intelligentsia]
• Abstract of the article by A. Pollard. [https://modernproblems.org.ru/inlellig/pollard The origin of the word “intelligentsia” and its derivatives].
• [https://www.ng.ru/ideas/2008-01-22/10_socialism.html Conversation between I. Stalin and L. Feuchtwanger] //NG
• I. S. Kon.
  [https://scepsis.ru/library/id_1199.html Reflections on the American intelligentsia] // “New World”, 1968, No. 1. - P. 173-197
• [https://ec-dejavu.ru/i/intelligentia_2.html Russian intelligentsia and Western intellectualism. Proceedings of the international conference. Compiled by B. A. Uspensky].
• Kormer V.
  Double consciousness of the intelligentsia and pseudo-culture (published under the pseudonym
  Altaev
  ).
  — In the book: Kormer V.
  Mole of History. - M.: Time, 2009. - P. 211−252. — ISBN 978-5-9691-0427-3 ([https://antology.igrunov.ru/70-s/periodicals/rshd/altaev.html electronic version]).
• Alex Tarn. [https://www.alekstarn.com/stru.html Portrait of P. B. Struve in the twilight of the intelligentsia.]
• Pomeranz G. [https://www.pomeranz.ru/p/lect_intell.htm Intelligentsia, intellectuals and intelligence] - lecture, June 21, 2001
• Bitkina S.
  It's not just about the hat. What a real intellectual should be like // Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 2014. No. 58.
• Slyusar V. H.
  [https://eprints.zu.edu.ua/10452/1/Slyusar_intellig1.pdf Intelligentsia as an object of violence during the period of transformation of society] // Modern intelligentsia: problems of social identification: collection of scientific works: in 3 volumes . / answer ed. I. I. Osinsky. - Ulan-Ude: Buryat State University Publishing House, 2012. - T. 1. - P. 181-189.
• [https://echo.msk.ru/programs/speakrus/504436-echo Game program about the word “intelligentsia”] in “Speaking Russian” on Echo of Moscow (March 30, 2008)
• Filatova A.
  [https://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/51/11.pdf The concept
  of intelligentsia
  in the semantic space of modern Russian culture] // Logos, 2005, No. 6. - P. 206-217.

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

• Intelligentsia // Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 4 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1907-1909.
• Intelligentsia // Encyclopedia "Around the World".
• Intelligentsia // Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language: in 4 volumes / ch. ed. B. M. Volin, D. N. Ushakov (vol. 2-4); comp. G. O. Vinokur, B. A. Larin, S. I. Ozhegov, B. V. Tomashevsky, D. N. Ushakov; edited by D. N. Ushakova. - M.: GI "Soviet Encyclopedia" (vol. 1) : OGIZ (vol. 1) : GINS (vol. 2-4), 1935-1940.
• Intelligentsia
  - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
• Memetov V. S., Rastorguev V. N.
  [https://bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/2013995 Intelligentsia] // Great Russian Encyclopedia. M., 2008. T. 11.
• Intelligentsia // Dictionary of Social Sciences
• Intelligentsia // Encyclopedia of Sociology

Examples in the modern world

In everyday life, a person meets intelligent people on his way and does not give it any importance, but it is they who make our life better, increasing its quality, they preserve spiritual and moral values.

An example of intelligence is a person who shows good manners, but does not behave in a pretentious way, and does not indulge in narcissism. Such an individual does not condemn anyone for wrong actions, but tries to determine their cause.

An example of intelligence is the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. At one time, the political system tried to destroy him, he was sent to camps, into exile, censorship was imposed, but he could not be broken. Alexander Isaevich faced cancer and was able to defeat it. Not only was he educated, he also helped others and society as a whole. He was tolerant of people's personal shortcomings, while opposing social vices. Solzhenitsyn was a man of strong spirit, body and mind.

The situation with intelligence in the modern world is under threat. The fact is that today there is an acute problem of personal degradation, the consequences of the media, social networks. However, you need to understand that human values ​​will be preserved at any time, there will always be a place for compassion, the ability to put oneself in the place of other people, treat them with respect, and be tolerant. A sharp mind, along with inner freedom, a deep soul and a thirst for everything beautiful will always occupy a significant place in the process of evolution.

The current intelligentsia is not very different from the representatives of the last century. Such people are strong, they have a kind soul, they do not boast about their achievements and actions, they do everything to change the world for the better.

Notes

1. ↑ [https://linguaeterna.com/vocabula/index.php Dictionary] by I. Kh. Dvoretsky
2. Kiselnikova T.V.
   [https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=12157895 From the history of socialist thought. Socialism and philistinism in the discussions of Russian socialists at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries] // Bulletin of Tomsk State University. - Tomsk: National Research Tomsk State University, 2005. - No. 288. - P. 133. - ISSN [https://www.sigla.ru/table.jsp?f=8&t=3&v0=1561-7793&f=1003&t=1&v1 =&f=4&t=2&v2=&f=21&t=3&v3=&f=1016&t=3&v4=&f=1016&t=3&v5=&bf=4&b=&d=0&ys=&ye=&lng=&ft=&mt=&dt=&vol=&pt=&iss=&ps =&pe=&tr=&tro=&cc=UNION&i=1&v=tagged&s=0&ss=0&st=0&i18n=ru&rlf=&psz=20&bs=20&ce=hJfuypee8JzzufeGmImYYIpZKRJeeOeeWGJIZRrRRrdmtdeee88NJJJJpeeefTJ3peKJJ3UWWPtzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzbzzvzzpy5zzjzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztzzzzzzzbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzvzzzzzzyeyTjkDnyHzTuueKZePz9decyzzLzzzL*.c 8.NzrGJJvufeeeeeJheeyzjeeeeJh*peeeeKJJJJJJJJJmjHvOJJJJJJJJJfeeeieeeeSJJJJJSJJJ3TeIJJJJ3..E.UEAcyhxD.eeeeeuzzzLJJJJ5.e8JJJheeeeeeeeeeeeeK3JJJJJJJJ*s7defee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeSJJJJJJJJZIJJzzz1.. 6LJJJJJJtJJZ4….EK*&debug=false 1561-7793].
3. [https://avtonom.org/old/lib/theory/gramshi_ttetradi.html?q=lib/theory/gramshi_ttetradi.html Prison notebooks. The emergence of the intelligentsia]
4. Lenin V.I.
   Complete works. - M.: Publishing House of Political Literature, 1970. - T. 51. - P. 134-135.

How to become an intellectual

1. Great attention must be paid. Here we are not talking about some kind of fantasy or romance novels, but about classical literature.
2. Education plays an important role. You need to understand that not every person with a higher education is an intellectual, while all intelligent people are highly educated.
3. Proper upbringing is of the greatest importance. If I raise a child, I instill respect for other people, the ability to listen to others, the ability to sensibly relate to the point of view of each individual, then he will begin to develop the makings of intelligence.
4. Educational activities and charity also allow you to become an intellectual.
5. The inseparability of actions from words. A person who strives to become an intellectual will definitely be responsible for his words and actions.

Now you know what the essence of intelligence is. People must believe that intelligence is the culture of the soul. This is not an indicator of the level of education, these are actions that correspond to moral principles. Humanity vitally needs individuals with a bright soul, who will indicate the need for pure relationships without commercialism, the need to obtain knowledge with subsequent development and spiritual growth.

Text from the Unified State Examination

(1) What is classical literature? (2) What is classical Russian music? (3) What is Russian painting, in particular the Peredvizhniki? (4) And this, among other things, is also the Russian intelligentsia and intelligence, from which came creators who knew how to express their mindset, aspirations and everything that we call the spiritual world of the people.

(5) A person who calls himself an intellectual thereby took upon himself very clear moral obligations. (6) The measure of intelligence was not only beliefs, morality, and creativity as such, but also actions.

(7) A person who insulted a servant, an unfamiliar passer-by, a man who came to the market, a beggar, a shoemaker, a conductor, was not accepted in the intelligentsia, they turned away from him, but the same person who was insolent to his superiors aroused complete trust.

(8) Careerism was not encouraged to any extent, but in some cases it was tolerated: if the careerist “did not forget the poor and his own dignity” - that was roughly the rule.

(9) Getting rich was despised, especially in cases where the person who became rich did not provide material assistance to anyone. (10) It was not shameful to come to a rich man, if not with a demand, then with an insistent request to donate to such and such social and good needs.

(11) Precisely because intelligence provided for the morality of action and lifestyle, it was not a class, and Count Tolstoy was an intellectual, and a craftsman was one.

(12) The Code of Intelligence was never written anywhere, but was clear to everyone who wanted to understand it. (13) He who understood him knew what was good and what was bad, what was possible and what was not.

(According to S. Zalygin)

Introduction

Sometimes it is difficult to clearly define what intelligent behavior is and what is the opposite of it. How does an intelligent person differ from the general mass? Are there any special rules for a person to become intelligent? Writers, sociologists and philosophers have been thinking about this for more than one generation.

Problem

The problem of intelligence is also raised by the Russian writer-publicist S. Zalygin. He tries to correlate the very concept of intelligence and its embodiment in the life of society.

A comment

The author asks the question of what Russian literature, music, painting are, inextricably linking these concepts with the intelligentsia and intelligence, which helped the masters of words and painting to express the features of the surrounding world, the internal aspirations of the common people.

Next, the author talks about the high moral responsibility of a person who calls himself an intellectual. The main measure of intelligence is not only beliefs, morals or creativity, but also actions. A person who insulted the disadvantaged and needy was not accepted in an intelligent environment. At the same time, the person who shouted at his superiors aroused confidential respect.

The thirst for profit and career growth were not welcomed, especially if the person did not help the disadvantaged. It was very important not to lose self-esteem and donate to public needs.

Author's position

S. Zalygin says that the code of intelligence has never been written, but is understandable to everyone. Anyone who understands the very essence of intelligence knows what is good and what is bad, what can be done and what cannot be done.

Intelligence does not depend on a person’s social affiliation; it is a special internal quality.

Your position

I agree with the author that intelligence is not education, talent or morality. These are all the listed traits, specially formed into a single internal state that does not allow a person to lose his own dignity and humiliate the dignity of others.

Argument 1

Intelligence is assessed by others by a person’s ability to behave in various situations, in the company of people. Another important criterion of intelligence is spirituality. L.N. Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace” presents us with true intelligence in the person of one of the main characters - Andrei Bolkonsky.

Prince Andrei is a strong, strong-willed person, intelligent, educated, with deep patriotic feelings, mercy and spirituality. High society with its cynicism and lies repels Bolkonsky. Gradually abandoning the rules by which high society lives, Andrei tries to find happiness in military action.

Having gone through a difficult path on the battlefields, the hero affirms compassion, love and kindness in his soul. These traits make him a true intellectual. Many modern young people could take an example from him.

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 himself the “godfather” of the 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 features of the Russian intellectual began to be the features of social messianism: concern for the fate of one’s fatherland (civic responsibility); the desire for social criticism, for the fight against what hinders national development (the role of a bearer of social 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 Vekhi. A collection of articles on the Russian intelligentsia (1909), the intelligentsia began to be defined primarily through opposition to official state power. At the same time, the concepts of “educated class” and “intelligentsia” were partially separated - not 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, turned out to be a rather isolated social group in pre-revolutionary Russia. 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 included people from different classes, but at the same time they did not form a single social group, and we should not talk about the intelligentsia in general, but about different types of 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.

article by Vyacheslav Ivanov entitled: “The Face and Masks of Russia”

Faces of Russia

Russia has two faces. I listed them above. These are all their pseudonyms. And these are their real names. Let's get acquainted now.

Lucifer and Ahriman

Vyacheslav Ivanov immediately says that he does not introduce these names in order to “convince enlightened contemporaries of their real existence.” But because these bright characters and their ideas are imprinted in different guises throughout Russia and constitute the main essence of our national empty discussion - who is right: who scolds the people or who scolds the intelligentsia who scold the people.

Lucifer and Ahriman are two god-fighting principles, which are both engaged in the fight with God. But they are one. These are “two different faces of a single force, whose name is Satan.”

This idea is a legacy of the ancient Gnostic tradition of the West and East; Ivanov did not invent it himself.

Lucifer is the spirit of indignation, the spirit of revolution, the spirit of selfhood.

Ahriman is the spirit of corruption, the spirit of ossification, the spirit of “it doesn’t matter.”

St. Augustine also called them both:

• "world rulers of the darkness of this age"
• and “military leaders of the Earthly City.”

Dostoevsky also called the demon Ahriman - “the demon of vulgarity and flatness”, Sologub - “a small demon”, “a weakling”.

But the best way for us to understand what Ahriman is is Vyacheslav Ivanov himself. Ahriman is where a person is deliberately corrupted and scattered into trifles, where a person is deliberately humiliated, “lowered into the very dirt,” presented as petty, insignificant. Where lawlessness reigns. The complete program of Ahriman (says Ivanov) is to lure the soul into Chaos, into inert matter - with crude sensual lures. And then the light will be “embraced by darkness”, will decay and fade away in it.

The program and ideology of Lucifer seem to be completely opposite. Lucifer is where people are exalted, where everything is refined, where the phrase “you will be like gods” and “What do you need gods for when you yourself are like gods?” is pronounced...

Ahriman is a soul spit on from birth, a dirty tavern, a barracks, drunken hari, murder for three rubles and boots taken from a dead man, child molestation, lack of paved roads, beatings and swearing over a child’s cradle. This is the absence of laws.

Lucifer is pride and individualism, this is “self-love to the point of hatred of God,” this is progress and science, the organization of society on “reasonable principles,” energy, will and self-affirmation, this is the thirst for immortality on earth. This is the triumph of the Law. (Above Conscience).

The sober brother Lucifer traditionally hates his drunken brother Ahriman, disdains him, reproaches him for his dirt and “ragged appearance,” for the unsanitary conditions, for the ugliness of his dirty face.

Ahriman also hates Lucifer, reproaches him for snobbery and pride, for sterility and for the ugliness of his face, too clean, too washed with soap, like Chichikov’s full cheeks.

But both of them, I repeat, are one. This is the secret. Dear ones scold only for fun.

It is not difficult to guess that the founder of Luciferic Russia is Peter the Great. Following him, the “party of Lucifer” was born in Russia.

Their main merit and work lies in the fact that they tirelessly spoke and continue to speak about the tricks of Ahriman in Russia, denouncing the builders:

• “Rus of decay”, opposite to “Rus of resurrection”,
• highlight Rus''s arbitrariness, violence and oppression,
• Rus' does not keep silent about atrocities, drunkenness, moral dullness and savagery,
• Rus' of rotten vulgarity,
• Rus' "desecration of the shrine of the human face"
• fury and malevolent destruction.

This part of the people, who saw all this, tried to create a new Russia, not Ahriman’s. On Luciferic cultural principles.

The leaven of Luciferic culture is the ideas of the French Revolution, atheism, democracy, citizenship and individualism. You will be like gods.

There is only one complaint that can be made against people who acutely hated “Rus Arimanova” with cockroaches in cabbage soup, and this is it.

These people saw with their own eyes only Ahriman’s Rus'. This is good. But they no longer saw “Holy Rus'” and, moreover, they did not believe in the possibility of its existence - whether in the past, in the present, in the future - or in some parallel reality, like Daniil Andreev.

And they taught their vision and their faith (the lack of faith in the possibility of Holy Rus') to others.