pseudointellectual

• pseudo-intellectual

From pseudo- (“false, fake”) +‎ intellectual.

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pseudointellectual (plural pseudointellectuals)

1. A person who claims proficiency in scholarly or artistic activities while lacking in-depth knowledge or critical understanding.
2. A person who pretends to be of greater intelligence than they actually are.
   • 2002 September 3, Cyber Cypher, “The sign of pseudo-intellectual”, in alt.usage.english‎^[1] (Usenet), message-ID <Xns927E5A0D9A8C1ccdenews@130.133.1.4>:

     The telltale sign of a pseudo intellectual is the superficial sprinkling and misuse of terms like "paradigm shift" and name dropping

Usage is fraught, and pseudointellectual may be used as a general term of abuse for intellectuals one dislikes or disagrees with. Nevertheless, in more careful use a rather clear distinction is drawn:^[1] a pseudointellectual is someone dishonestly or insincerely using the language, style, or topics of an intellectual, but who lacks the goals, morals, or ability of a “genuine” intellectual. It is someone who acts pretentiously and wishes to win an argument or impress, rather than modestly trying to find the truth – a focus on surface and rhetoric over content. These often involve a superficial understanding of a subject and condescension to the audience, as well as possible self-delusion (not being consciously dishonest, but rather sincerely thinking oneself to be behaving as a genuine intellectual despite one's incompetence).

• pseud
• pseudo

• See also Thesaurus:deceiver
• charlatan
• fraud
• sophist

pseudointellectual (comparative more pseudointellectual, superlative most pseudointellectual)

1. Pretentiously or insincerely intellectual.
   • 1970, Imre Lakatos, “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, in Imre Lakatos, Alan Musgrave, editors, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science; 4), Cambridge: [Cambridge] University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 176:

     […] one wonders whether the function of statistical techniques in the social sciences is not primarily to provide a machinery for producing phoney corroborations and thereby a semblance of ‘scientific progress’ where, in fact, there is nothing but an increase in pseudo-intellectual garbage.

• Sydney J. Harris, circa 1981 November 20 (syndicated column), published as “Distinctions Between Intellectuals And Pseudo-Intellectuals” (mirror) in the Detroit Free Press, (11/20/81) and “Telling the real from the pseudo”, Sarasota Journal, Nov 23, 1981, among others