Asked what type of potential mate someone would prefer, intelligence ranks somewhere on that list within the top 5 (I do not claim this to be a universal truth though). Yet people who have the highest levels of academic certification can act extremely foolishly, people who have neither a good formal education nor the certification from a prestigious academic institution produce gems of thoughts and provide glimpses of genius. How then, can intelligence be defined? Is there, if any, one specific definition of intelligence that we can all use to evaluate individuals that is independent of what degree an individual holds or what family he/ she is born into?
As usual, my desire to eliminate as much uncertainty from my life as possible holds root and, it is my belief, that I have stumbled upon, through conversation, literature and introspection, a universal definition of intelligence. There are 2 aspects to intelligence that have been listed here:
-An intelligent person learns from his/ her previous mistake, internalizes those mistakes, and successfully avoids repeating those mistakes. This is not to say that an intelligent person is perfect, but that he/ she strives consciously to avoid repeating erroneous actions made on previous occasions. To sum this up, I would say Intelligence (and potentially success) is not never failing, but never repeating the same mistake twice.
-An intelligent person, when thrown/ drawn into an argument without prior knowledge or context of the same, understands and carefully identifies the background and foundation of the argument, the underlying assumptions made by the debater and points out logical loopholes. In essence, an intelligent person is able to quickly carry on a sound and rational debate without prior information on a particular topic. This speaks volumes of an individual's character, the opinions, the tone and manner of speech, and finally the ability to critically analyze of an individual.
These two points constitute a fulfilling answer to the question 'how intelligent is X'. These points are independent of the preponderance of degrees held by an individual, the school attended by an individual and the family background of an individual. For how many times have we seen a wealthy individual rise to the top simply based on the assets owned by family rather than sheer cranial capacity?
As usual, my desire to eliminate as much uncertainty from my life as possible holds root and, it is my belief, that I have stumbled upon, through conversation, literature and introspection, a universal definition of intelligence. There are 2 aspects to intelligence that have been listed here:
-An intelligent person learns from his/ her previous mistake, internalizes those mistakes, and successfully avoids repeating those mistakes. This is not to say that an intelligent person is perfect, but that he/ she strives consciously to avoid repeating erroneous actions made on previous occasions. To sum this up, I would say Intelligence (and potentially success) is not never failing, but never repeating the same mistake twice.
-An intelligent person, when thrown/ drawn into an argument without prior knowledge or context of the same, understands and carefully identifies the background and foundation of the argument, the underlying assumptions made by the debater and points out logical loopholes. In essence, an intelligent person is able to quickly carry on a sound and rational debate without prior information on a particular topic. This speaks volumes of an individual's character, the opinions, the tone and manner of speech, and finally the ability to critically analyze of an individual.
These two points constitute a fulfilling answer to the question 'how intelligent is X'. These points are independent of the preponderance of degrees held by an individual, the school attended by an individual and the family background of an individual. For how many times have we seen a wealthy individual rise to the top simply based on the assets owned by family rather than sheer cranial capacity?
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