Etymology of the term intelligence

Summary

The term "intelligence" comes from Latin roots: the nouns *intelligentia* and *intellēctus*, which derive from the verb *intelligere* meaning "to comprehend" or "to perceive." In the Middle Ages, *intellectus* became a scholarly technical term for understanding and was used as a translation of the Greek philosophical concept *nous*. In medieval scholastic thought, *nous* and *intellectus* were closely tied to metaphysical and cosmological ideas, including teleological explanations and the notion of an "active intellect" (active intelligence). Early modern philosophers such as Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and David Hume rejected this scholastic framework and preferred the term "understanding" in their English works. As a result, "intelligence" became less common in English philosophical usage, though it later reappeared in more contemporary psychology, carrying some of the older scholastic implications.

Key Points

• 1

  "Intelligence" derives from Latin *intelligentia*/*intellēctus* and the verb *intelligere* (to comprehend or perceive).

• 2

  In the Middle Ages, *intellectus* was used as a technical term for understanding and as a translation of Greek *nous*.

• 3

  Scholastic links to metaphysics and an "active intellect" were later rejected by early modern philosophers, who favored "understanding" over "intellectus/intelligence."

• 4

  The word became less common in English philosophy but was later adopted in contemporary psychology.