Synopsis
We are what we know and what we are capable of doing. Knowledge and skills are the expression of the essence of each human being – in other words, his or her intellectual abilities. The development of intellect is the supreme manifestation of human evolution. Just as there is an enormous diversity of organisms, there is a great variety of intellectual levels. People who have a very high IQ, who possess broad knowledge and have diverse interests, are called the intellectuals. Among them, throughout history, have been those who have generated new ideas and useful innovations. Even though they have not always held key positions in society, many of them had an impact on the progress of history. The combined manifestation of high intellect of these people can be determined as the intellectualism.
Few books have covered the evolution of intellect and intellectualism. The ones that have been published are usually meant for readers with broad knowledge and profound interest in the subject. They contain highly scholarly materials and intellectual arguments. This book is different.
It targets a wider group of readers, those who don’t possess special knowledge on the subject, but who are interested in history and different cultures. It addresses the origin, formation and development of intellect and, without simplifying the subject, demonstrates its place and significance in history. Written in the form of lively short stories, it contains exciting descriptions of the lives of famous individuals and interesting facts from the history of civilization. The stories alternate with illustrations by the author and his poems on historic themes. From the very beginning, Western and Eastern civilizations developed in different ways. The same was true of the evolution of the Western and Eastern intellect. This book addresses intellectualism in the Western world.
The book opens with a story about the Egyptian, Imhotep, the first known intellectual in the world, who lived about five thousand years ago. He was a vizier to a Pharaoh, an architect, scholar and physician. His Pyramid of the Steps was the first large stone structure in the world and has been preserved to the present day. The opening story is followed by accounts of the role of intellectualism in the most ancient civilizations and religions in Egypt and Mesopotamia. These have had a strong impact on the course of development of the Western world.