[1]
[Footnote 1: The correct scale for adjusting the hierarchy of
intelligences is furnished by the degree in which the mind takes
merely individual or approaches universal views of things. The brute
recognizes only the individual as such: its comprehension does not
extend beyond the limits of the individual. But man reduces the
individual to the general; herein lies the exercise of his reason; and
the higher his intelligence reaches, the nearer do his general ideas
approach the point at which they become universal.]
The works of fine art, poetry and philosophy produced by a nation are
the outcome of the superfluous intellect existing in it.
For him who can understand aright--_cum grano salis_--the relation
between the genius and the normal man may, perhaps, be best expressed
as follows: A genius has a double intellect, one for himself and the
service of his will; the other for the world, of which he becomes the
mirror, in virtue of his purely objective attitude towards it. The
work of art or poetry or philosophy produced by the genius is
simply the result, or quintessence, of this contemplative attitude,
elaborated according to certain technical rules.
The normal man, on the other hand, has only a single intellect, which
may be called _subjective_ by contrast with the _objective_ intellect
of genius.
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