Intellectual

An intellectual is a member of the intelligentsia. He is in a class that exercises a leadership role over the masses by coming up with new ideas or expressing ideas that others intellectuals have come up with in ways that the masses can understand. Ludwig von Mises writes, "It is true that the masses do not think. But just for this reason they follow those who do think. The intellectual guidance of humanity belongs to the very few who think for themselves. At first they influence the circle of those capable of grasping and understanding what others have thought; through these intermediaries their ideas reach the masses and there condense themselves into the public opinion of the time." Likewise, Murray Rothbard writes, "In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas."