“I” Stands for Intelligent & (Un?) Intelligible Part 2

Alright, time to continue my rambling. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I have a problem with the use of the word intelligent. It’s mostly used to describe being “smart”. I believe intelligence, using it as an adjective to describe mental ability is composed of three parts. These three parts are knowledge, wisdom and intelligence.

Here’s my definition of each part:

Knowledge: Having understanding and retainment of facts, ideas, concepts, principles, truths …etc. A person who is knowledgeable knows many things. I believe being knowledgeable has a lot to do with memorization, it’s like filing things away in the library of you mind.

Wisdom: Knowing how to use knowledge appropriately and to your advantage. Often closely relate to experience and generally older people are wiser than younger people (because they have more experience). Being wise means you have good insight in how to handle situations and use knowledge/wisdom.

Intelligence: The capacity to understand, learn and reason. Intelligence affects the ability to attain knowledge. A person with high intelligence learns quickly, generally understands things easier and is considered quick witted. I believe highly intelligent people need less knowledge to figure things out; they can use reasoning and logic usefully. I think creativity is strongly linked to intelligence.

I believe mental capacity is comprised of the three combined together. What I’m looking for is a word that encapsulates all three traits into a single adjective describing mental strength. I don’t know of one, does it exist? I might be splitting hairs her or arguing definitions but I feel like it so tough.

Everyone has different levels of each trait. Some people are highly intelligent but lack knowledge, some people are very knowledgeable but lack wisdom, there are countless combinations of the three. I always double take when someone uses the word intelligent, or I’m left wanting more description. For example, if someone were to call a friend of mine highly intelligent when I know this friend is moderately intelligent but very knowledgeable, I feel like correcting them. Then I get funny looks and the, “who cares, it’s the same thing” look. It’s very rare to hear someone use the words “wise” or “knowledgeable” to describe people; I wish it was more common.

I think its interesting getting to know someone and learning how their environment has influenced each trait. I believe intelligence is largely luck of the draw; you’re either born with lots or little. I don’t want to sound like it’s decided at birth though, I do believe intelligence can be strengthened but not as easily, as say, an intelligent person can gain knowledge. Now, you can be highly intelligent but lacking knowledge due to education or environment. I like these kinds of people; they are neat to be around.

This is where my earlier post about university comes in. University, school, peers, activities …etc are things that people need to be exposed to if they want to gain knowledge. An intelligent person who isn’t exposed to an environment that strengthens their knowledge has lots of unused potential. You could be the smartest guy in the world but if you’ve lived your whole life alone in the woods you are not taking advantage of it.

That’s my thoughts on what it means to be “intelligent” (Argh! I want a better word!) I just felt like talking about wisdom, knowledge and intelligence. I don’t know how much of this makes sense but it was fun to write and doing this has helped me think it through and come to a greater understanding of the subject. If anyone knows a word that describes what I’m looking for let me know. So was I intelligible or un-intelligible?