S.A.TAN

I come from a society where people are obsessed with the identification and measurement of intelligence and that really puts me off. the problem is exacerbated by the fact that, on face value, I don't think the people who talk to me about intelligence even know what intelligence means. Ask them for an opinion for what the damn word means and they go like.."erh...um...huh?"

That justs makes me wanna bang my head against the wall <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

My challenge to those reading my posting is this: Can u come up with a good definition/measurement of intelligence....lexical or otherwise?

Vesica

No I really can't but I too have found the obsession with intellegence annoying...In my experience, those obsessed define intelligence in terms of thier own strong suits and tend to ignore those aspects that they are not good at.

I think Gardner came up with an intresting idea with his theory of multiple intelligences. Not perfect but it at least gets past good performance on tests or grades as a measure...

Check out this link:<a href="http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm#Multiple%20Intelligences%20E xplained" target="_blank">Explanation of Mutliple Intelligences</a>

After some of the individuals I have encountered, I definitely value common sense or application of intellegence over the intelligence itself....Some of them are smart (really smart) but if not for the kindness of others would be living in a cardboard box!

AtlanticCitySlave

Not being able to state with precision what intelligence means does not mean people are not justified in using the term (we don't necessarily think in words). Defining intelligence is a major problem in psychology, with many researchers just saying "intelligence is what intelligence tests measure" or something along those lines. Regardless, it seems obvious to me that when someone says "that person is intelligent" they simply mean able to solve problems easily, think rationally, etc. I mean, how many people say "Michael Jordan has physical intelligence"? It would seem rather odd to do so. But, retards obviously aren't intelligent and Saul Kripke obviously is.
This constant demand from so many people for precise definitions of what we mean whenever we say something is getting rather old. It's often not possible to put into words what we mean.

WJ

Intelligence is an illogical mixture of red and green all over; the insoluble mix of the subjective and objective. If I was Spock, I could objectively account for my own existence *and* the essence of my intelligence.

In that context, humans are cursed with sentience. Otherwise, the question might be that of voluntarism: does the will first turn to intelligence, or does intelligence need to exist before the will can even recognize it? In otherwords, what makes us self-conscious?

In the alternative, perhaps the simple (not so simple) answer is intelligence=cognition.

Shadowy Man

How's this sound?

Intelligence is the ability to turn facts into wisdom.


Just don't ask me what the definition of wisdom is.

AtlanticCitySlave

I agree with WJ, although I would add the more you're better able to use your cognitive skills (memory, problem solving, recognizing patterns, categorizing, etc.) the more intelligent you are, and hence why Mr. Saul is more intelligent than Mr. Retard.

Mr. Sammi

I think Intelligence amoung other things is : "THE ABILITY TO JUXTAPOSE an appropriate abstract model WITH the possibilities of impending reality AND obtain a valid sequence of actions".

This can be spoken of otherwise as creating a "success model" AND the intelligence of the method of creating that success model, can be measured in direct correspondence with the outcome.

THUS it is possible to have intelligence in small worlds and in LARGE WORLDS.

Sammi Na Boodie (so long)

Philosoft

<strong>Quoth WJ:

Intelligence is an illogical mixture of red and green all over; the insoluble mix of the subjective and objective. If I was Spock, I could objectively account for my own existence *and* the essence of my intelligence.</strong>

Where do you come up with this stuff?

Blu

Intelligence - mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Intelligence quotient (IQ) - defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ - ma/ca x 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

DOES THAT HELP AT ALL?

Shadowy Man

No. I have never found "IQ" to be an adequate measure of anything. Except maybe a measure of how well one can do on IQ tests.