"Intellectuals"

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I agree that BA degrees have largely become a "dime a dozen" (given that universities are no longer just for a relative intellectual elite) these days. Most of these students have little intellectual interest.

That being said, there is no (undergrad) program that inherently makes one an "intellectual" because of the difficulty involved. Intellectualism and intelligence are not synonymous. Let's put it this way: Virtually all (with some exceptions) intellectuals are intelligent, but most intelligent people aren't intellectuals.

Pizzing contest.

Well, a lower level degree in political science can be used for... a higher level degree in political science. In my native country of Denmark, there are numerous public top executives (and quite a few private executives) and succesfull McKinsey/Boston Consulting Group consultants (the latter being *very* high paid positions) with that degree. English or History, on the other hand (regardless of higher or lower levels of degrees) rarely amounts to anything but unemployment or teaching in college...

Intellectuals are people who know lots of big words and have lots of books in their bookcase.

"Lower level" and "higher level" degrees...it's interesting to hear about the Bologna Process and the "Americanization" of higher education in Europe.

There was a time when a degree in Britain and much of the continent was considered of a qualitatively higher nature than an American degree, a European BA more or less being equivalent to a US MA. This was a course a time when American college attendance was far higher than in Europe, probably about four times higher.

Returning to the definitions from Lipset and Kahan, I'd say Lipset's is more attractive though perhaps his definition is a little too broad-based. Should it include schoolteachers and clergy?

Kahan ironically captures more of what he captures when we hear about "intellectuals", but the problem is the overall polemical tone of his book. He wants to bash "intellectuals" as being left-wing dupes who "hate capitalism and business" and narrows his definition appropriately.

bah without emotions the human decision making process wouldnt work so to say that is even possible doesnt chime well with reality.

there are several cases where damage to the ventromedial prefrontal area leads to indecision and a host of other executive dysfunction issues.

especially the case of "elliott" in retrospect many of his symptoms are similar to what we experience on the autsistic spectru, only much more extreme and with the added bonus of not being able to decide upon anything that requires a value judgement, such as what would you like for dinner, he simply lacks the capacity to prefer one food over another so it, to him is a mute question.