Stupid Stunt

Of course the central question here is what makes a thought or action “stupid?” In other words, what constitutes the concept of stupidity? What are the “necessary conditions,” each of which must be present severally but are not themselves sufficient, i.e. do not constitute a “sufficient condition” on the basis of which a thought or action MUST be considered stupid? When is the combination of necessary conditions sufficient to constitute a, um, sufficient condition? This, of course, is what makes this bitch philosophically interesting.

WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE?

Conversely, what makes a thought or action “intelligent?” To speak of an “intelligent thought or action” presupposes prior possession of the concept of intelligence itself. So, what is that concept? There are those who claim that there is something called “social intelligence,” the ability to get along with others but I claim that intelligence must have a necessary intellectual component which rules out such “social intelligence.” There are others who claim that there is something called a “mathematical intelligence” or a “chess intelligence” but I claim that any general notion of intelligence cannot be restricted to any specific domain. So what is that general notion of intelligence?

That general notion of intelligence resides in the ability to make distinctions. Did you notice how I distinguished “social intelligence” from “mathematical intelligence” or “chess intelligence?” What was I doing? Right, I was making distinctions. Now, what do you think that means? Right again, it means I am (very) intelligent!

A pleasure as always.

Cheerio!