A person should be intelligent - this phrase can often be heard, but that's why it is necessary and what it means to be an intelligent person in our time, not everyone can tell.
What kind of person can be called intelligent?
If you conduct a survey on the topic, what kind of person can be called intelligent, what it means to be such a person, then a precise definition of disparate statements will be difficult. Most agree that the main qualities of an intelligent person are education and erudition. Another part will say that the main thing is upbringing, because an intelligent person will never say a rude word in the presence of a woman.
The funniest thing is that both groups will be right and wrong at the same time. Perhaps the most accurate description of an intelligent person was given by D. Likhachev in his article "A person must be intelligent". It said that education and upbringing only emphasize man's intelligence, but the quality is inherent. Even an uneducated person, who was brought up in the family of hereditary hard workers, may be a man of intelligence. Because this quality does not mean knowledge of the intellectual values of mankind, but a desire to learn them. Intelligence is manifested in the ability to understand another person and not to use these abilities to harm people. Speech of an intelligent person will not abound in obscene words, because such people subtly feel beauty and can not afford to break it with words or actions. Summarizing, we can say that an intellectual is the person who knows how to tolerate people and the world. That's why you can not be a fanatic (sports, religious, political) and remain an intellectual.
Although, in an attempt to understand what it means to be an intelligent person, you can go the easier way and look into the dictionary. There we will see the definition of an intellectual, as an educated man, engaged in mental labor. Which of the opinions best corresponds to what an intelligent person should be, it's up to you.
Why should a person be intelligent?
If you agree with the last definition of an intelligent person, then there is no special need to be such a person. Because there are a lot of working specialties that do not require higher education. But if you take into account Likhachev's statements, the need to be an intelligent person will become obvious. With whom do you prefer to communicate - with a person who does not respect the opinions of others, trying to humiliate the interlocutor or with someone who listens to any point of view, trying to understand the opponent?
How to become an intelligent person?
But since we decided that intelligence is an innate quality, can we develop it ourselves? Yes, you can learn to be an intelligent person,