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[Truean]

I don't know anymore, honestly. I thought I knew more than I did. I do hope this is helpful though:

Perhaps an intellectual is a rationalist (logical reasoner) or an empiricist (experimenter). Some fields aren't really able to be experimented in but that doesn't necessarily mean there are no intellectuals in that field, does it? Literature and Humanities, history, philosophy, these are hard to experiment on, but may produce rationalist intellectuals.

To me, a pseudointellectual would be neither of these, but rather someone who knowingly believes in a system that has either been proven false or seriously challenged and not proven correct. All the same, the system believed in is typically complex: astrology, fortune telling.


List of elements?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

So, most of the people in high school who read Nietzsche and Marx, then?

More like the people in high school who heard about Nietzsche and Marx, and then go on about how the world is moral-less/pointless and that we should have a communist revolution (likely while wearing a Che Guerava shirt) respectively.

List of elements?

I would say that the main thing is not actually knowing about what you're talking about, no "deep research", just the popular culture knowledge of everything.

[alway]

Someone who knows that things work, rather than understanding why things work, and accepts that as all they need. Memorizing facts, as opposed to learning concepts and processes.

[PsyberianHusky]

Look, if you need a name to attach for sake of creating a platonic ideal of a Psudointellectual,
You can use me, research and knowing what you are talking about is for suckas.
 A real intellectual was Walden, cause he was street, and he wrote alot, and he went to jail for like five-hundred thangs.


I also do it perfectly in this thread
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=91173.0

[Max White]

More like the people in high school who heard about Nietzsche and Marx, and then go on about how the world is moral-less/pointless and that we should have a communist revolution (likely while wearing a Che Guerava shirt) respectively.

This.
The people who read the communist manifesto hear about something they did not fully understand, so sought out to learn more about it. Every kid who is on he's second set of bracers knows about the works of Marx, but only the intellectuals amoung them will go and read any of it.

[penguinofhonor]

More like the people in high school who heard about Nietzsche and Marx, and then go on about how the world is moral-less/pointless and that we should have a communist revolution (likely while wearing a Che Guerava shirt) respectively.

This.

Oh, definitely this. This is basically the best example of a pseudointellectual, as it basically describes this guy I knew who always comes to mind when I think of pseudointellectuals.

The biggest way to tell if someone is a pseudointellectual or an intellectual is to see if they actually care about looking smart. Real intellectuals rarely do.

[Bauglir]

So, most of the people in high school who read Nietzsche and Marx, then?

If they tried to understand it, no. If they read it assuming that what they would get out of it was as described above, and didn't think any further, then yes.

I haven't read either, though, so I'm not sure how possible it is to really read them and get the impression that they really endorsed the stereotypes associated with them.

[Max White]

Best way to tell intellectual from pseudointellectual; Ask them what V for Vandatta was about. An intellectual will tell you it was an alright action movie about a burns victom. A pseudointellectual will go on a massive rant about chaotic good, social reform, Guy Fawks and symbolisem.

[Chaoswizkid]

For those who have seen the comedy A Fish Called Wanda, Otto is a pseudointellectual.

[Vector]

Best way to tell intellectual from pseudointellectual; Ask them what V for Vandatta was about. An intellectual will tell you it was an alright action movie about a burns victom. A pseudointellectual will go on a massive rant about chaotic good, social reform, Guy Fawks and symbolisem.

Haha, both my father and I are pseudointellectuals.  Huzzah.


EDIT: Actually, we both call it a "defeat the fascists" propaganda film, so maybe we get to keep our identification cards.

[Max White]

I never pictured you as an Anon fan, Vector. 
Next thing you will be telling me your part of lulzsec.

[Gunner-Chan]

Really. An intellectual to me is someone who seeks out deeper meanings into things, irrespective of importance to stimulate their minds and broaden their fields.

And a pseudo-intellectual is anyone who would demean anyone for seeking out what they consider "Lesser" interests or fields of study. You know, pretty much hipsters.

I think it's less about being able to understand quickly and more about the want to understand and absorb instead of pigeon-hole and nitpick. More about the attitude to question than accept.

But that's just me.

[Vector]

I never pictured you as an Anon fan, Vector. 
Next thing you will be telling me your part of lulzsec.

*shrug*

He worked as a labor historian for a while, and he raised me chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh is gonna win" >_>

So, uh, yeah... it's not about being an Anon fan, it's about it being a subset of the category of movies about defeating Fascism, by whatever means necessary.  It's not about the idea of Anon, it's about whether they've found a worthy target or are just causing a ruckus to no purpose.

[penguinofhonor]

And a pseudo-intellectual is anyone who would demean anyone for seeking out what they consider "Lesser" interests or fields of study. You know, pretty much hipsters.

Yes. Hipsters and pseudointellectuals go hand-in-hand. This is a good comparison.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

He worked as a labor historian for a while, and he raised me chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh is gonna win" >_>

I can't imagine that never caused an incident.