What is the anti intellectual movement?

Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical, politically motivated, and even contemptible human pursuits.

What does an intellectual do?

An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society, and thus gains authority as a public intellectual.

What’s the meaning of intellectualism?

Definition of intellectualism : devotion to the exercise of intellect or to intellectual pursuits.

What does through academic eyes mean?

To say that students need to see their interests “through academic eyes” is to say that street smarts are not enough. It is selfdefeating to decline to introduce any text or subject that figures to engage students who will otherwise tune out academic work entirely.

What is American anti-intellectualism?

Today, we define American anti-intellectualism as a social attitude that systematically denigrates science-based facts, academic and institutional authorities, and the pursuit of theory and knowledge.

What is anti-intellectualism According to Hofstadter?

In historian Richard Hofstadter’s seminal book, Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963), anti-intellectualism is explained as “a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition constantly to minimize the value of that life”.

How did anti-intellectualism die down?

Anti-intellectualism died down a little during the American Civil War and afterwards, since a man who broke many stereotypes about intellectual and anti-intellectual came to power: Abraham Lincoln. Coming from the backwoods of Kentucky, a large, gangly man with equal knacks of chopping wood and reading books by a fireside.

What is an anti-intellectual mindset?

The foundation of our understanding comes from Richard Hofstadter’s oft-cited Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963), where this mindset is described as: “a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition constantly to minimize the value of that life.”