What are the intellectuals?

The paper analyzes in detail everyday ideas about what intellectuals are and demonstrates their low suitability in the scientific application. It notes that the given everyday understanding contains certain adequate provisions that could be used in scientific explication of the intellectuals as a specific social group. Definition of the intellectuals given by R. Collins, the famous intellectual history researcher, is subjected to critical analysis, its drawbacks are revealed and the perspective is indicated, where it could be further developed and detailed. Author of this paper relies on the rationality procedural concept developed in his previous publications and presents his own definition of the intellectuals as people participating in systematic production of the new rational knowledge. The paper identifies main systemic sociological and cultural characteristics of the intellectual communities as a special kind of the collective unities. It substantiates an original hypothesis about fractal nature of the process of obtaining the new rational knowledge. Historical examples of intellectual communities from various spheres of human activity are given.

EDN UZCOMC

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