Who are the honest intellectuals?

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Vincent Paul Tran1's picture
Who are the honest intellectuals?

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cmallen's picture
Adolf Hitler, Carl Sagan, Kim

Adolph Hitler, Carl Sagan, Kim Il Sung, Terry Gross, and Mahatma Gandhi. Possibly in that order.

*edit: on second thought, scratch that first one; I think he lied about his combat record. Let's replace him with any intellectual who has had the integrity to acknowledge s/he was wrong about something.

SeanBreen's picture
Honesty isn't a function of

Honesty isn't a function of truth, it's a function of openness. You can sincerely believe killing Jews will benefit the world and you can also be open about that belief. That's honesty. It doesn't mean killing Jews will actually benefit the world. There's a fundamental difference between honesty and truth, but if you have both, you're honest and factually correct.

The most honest intellectualism is therefore the kind that deals in empirical facts and logic. You can't argue against clear logic and fact without fundamentally being illogical and nonfactual, which is of course the antithesis of both honesty and intellectualism: it's dishonest, and it's stupid.

Anybody who says 2+2=5; the Earth is flat; lack of knowledge means all powerful spaghetti monster; is a dishonest intellectual. Logical deduction is an ingrained cerebral function. For the honest intellectual, any conclusions that transcend, prohibit or outright defy fair and proper logical deduction are to be picked apart and disregarded.

Vincent Paul Tran1's picture
I've given up on trying to

I've given up on trying to find truth a long time ago. I'll seyyle for honesty

Vincent Paul Tran1's picture
I've given up on trying to

I've given up on trying to find truth a long time ago. I'll seyyle for honesty

Nutmeg's picture
I suppose you start answering

I suppose you start answering this by identifying the dishonest intellectuals, those who are paid by interest groups like large corporations, political parties or religions to give a distorted view of the 'facts' in exchange for large amounts of the folding suff. Climate change deniers and creationists/intelligent designers come to mind.

cmallen's picture
Excellent point. Rush

Excellent point. Rush Limbaugh comes to mind immediately. Also Freud, for some reason.

cmallen's picture
"Intellectual" is a pretty

"Intellectual" is a pretty broad category. If you are interested in reading serious works by thinkers with intellectual honesty and integrity I would suggest Bertrand Russell, Christopher Hitchens, C. S. Lewis. If you are interested in reading entertainment written by intelligent and honest writers, I would suggest Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Herman Hesse. If you are interested in sciences, Einstein was honest enough to accept that his theories were not complete and his writing is surprisingly accessible, but my personal favorite is Steven Hawking. Honestly, some of the most honest intellectuals are right here on this forum. If you read regularly you will see that Travis is not only crazy smart, but brutally honest; Prag and Nyarlath as well. They're not the only ones like that here, either... So actually, I guess the answer to your question is that honest intellectuals are probably anywhere you seek them out.

Vincent Paul Tran1's picture
I guess I just need a pruning

I guess I just need a pruning procedure to avoid the bad ones

WilfDisney's picture
Insomuch as humans as a

Insomuch as humans as a species are incapable of identifying truth internally - the best we can do is pitch ourselves somewhere on a spectrum of opinion and hope no one notices us wobble - then there are no honest intellectuals, but it is neither the point of intellectualism to be honest or honesty to be intellectual, IMO.

WD

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