Bullshit is not the opposite of intelligence

First of all, you have to admit that you can be both “con” and “clever”: “The two words are not of the same register. When we say that someone is intelligent, we usually refer to their capacities for abstraction, to the logic of their reasoning… which does not exclude bullshit. So if the opposite of bullshit isn’t academic intelligence, what is?(1).” So Zazzo started researching bullshit: “The first results were very encouraging. And then the volunteers to constitute the experienced population, that’s not what’s missing.” Taken by his multiple searches, he unfortunately did not have much time to devote to this subject. He then invited his students to look into it. Disappointment: “My proposal made them uncomfortable… The subject lacked respectability… and the notion in question, they did not see it as an object of science. There are like that a lot of objects that run the streets and that the psychologists let go.”

Dogmatic, gullible and goofy

Zazzo then decided to use the testimonial technique. He sent a list of about 120 names including the 120 recipients and, in addition, about twenty personalities from Parisian psychiatry to around a hundred psychiatrists, doctors and psychologists from the hospital where he worked. “The work required was simple: each respondent had to mark with a cross the name of a person he considered to be c… In my questionnaire, the word was obviously spelled out and I explained in a few lines the very ‘scientific’ goal of my investigation. I ensured total anonymity of the respondents, and I made the commitment never to publish the winners of this competition.”

Almost all of them replied; the number of names ticked varied depending on the individual, and “four or five names were credited with crosses by more than 85% of the voters… No name was exempt from crosses. In short, each of us is someone’s jerk.” But “the consensus on a few names gave food for thought. It designated for my analysis the people who arrived at the top of the list and in particular the number one. A good man no doubt, and a great boss, but devoid of any sense of humor, very erudite in his field but illiterate for everything else, both dogmatic and credulous, making no more mistakes than anyone else in his diagnoses but nevertheless unable to put himself in the point of view of others: hurtful and humiliating without even realizing it.”

This great patron of medicine had, according to Zazzo, an IQ close to 120: he was therefore very far from being an idiot in the pathological sense of the term. But as Binet, another facetious psychologist who was asked for his definition of intelligence, said: “Intelligence is what my tests measure!” IQ only measures a certain form of intelligence, logical intelligence, that’s all. Zazzo then wondered if the big boss “con” lacked social intelligence, which is measured by “ability to rise to higher positions. But social intelligence can also mean understanding, openness to others, sensitivity to the socius (2), ‘situational intelligence’: so, yes, that was missing. He was a man of blunders, blunders he was not even aware of.”

A jerk does not suspect that he is

Gaffes, everyone makes them from time to time: it’s accidental. On the other hand, their systematic repetition can put the flea in the ear: “The obvious bullshit is something else. A fool does not suspect that he is. To find out, he would have to decenter himself, see himself with the eyes of others… which then supposes that he would not be. The essential bullshit is inescapable. Am I myself trapped in my reasoning? Am I without knowing it? I want to escape it for my referendum: it is the majority that detects, decides, judges. Social feedback effect: we are stupid by the look, the judgment of others.”

Zazzo ended his investigation there. Provisional conclusion: the “bullshit” would be related to the absence of a sense of humor, the lack of distance vis-à-vis oneself and the chronic impossibility of putting oneself in the place of others. He continued his work by focusing on two directions: intellectual and psychosocial development in children, and a sense of humor. After thirty years of experimental research, he came to the following partial conclusion: “because words tend to be better defined by their oppositions, I venture to say that bullshit is to debility what humor is to intelligence. And at the same time, a double asymmetry appears: as I have already insinuated, every weakling is stupid, but not the reverse. I would add: one can show intelligence without having humor, but humor implies intelligence, logic, because it is its derision, its subversion. Well, that’s my guess…”

Global intelligence: humor and decentration

There are various types of intelligence, it is now a certainty: global intelligence, logic, situations, adaptation, divergent thinking, creativity, humor, cunning, etc. But “it is not enough to possess one “intelligence” and another, one must also know how to use it. Being smart means using the means at your disposal at the right time and appropriately.”

Let’s recap: idiocy, which in psychiatry is not an insult, but a “very profound intellectual deficit”, is the zero degree of intelligence; any idiot necessarily doubles as an idiot, since he is constitutionally, genetically incapable of humor and decentration (3); any individual endowed with a logical intelligence (that, we repeat, that the IQ measures), normal or superior, can be doubled as an idiot if he is psychologically incapable of self-mockery and of understanding the point of view of others, or even if he approaches with a dogmatic authority subjects that he has not studied… such as for example very prestigious and very intelligent astrophysicists when they speak of astrology.

From all this we can deduce that true intelligence (in every sense of the term) is that which escapes bullshit. It is characterized by withdrawal from oneself, from one’s feelings, thoughts, opinions and those of others, a withdrawal that can go as far as humor, by the ability to understand (which does not mean accepting) a point of view at the antipodes of his own, as well as prudence and humility when approaching areas that one does not know. Simplifying: any individual who is capable of humor (including and especially self-mockery) can be called intelligent; anyone capable of humoring others, but incapable of self-mockery, is a jerk. Intelligence can also take the form of wisdom, which also allows you to decenter and put yourself in the place of others. Moreover, in any true sage, there is always a humorist sleeping, and vice versa…

Planetary functions, bullshit, stupidity and intelligence

A few details: the word “stupid” here encompasses an arbitrary spectrum ranging from stupidity to quite clearly below average intelligence, while the word “clever” spans an equally arbitrary spectrum that ranges from above-average to superior intelligence. Finally, any individual “smart and not stupid” Nevertheless necessarily goes through moments of pureness “bullshit”.

Moon

Smart Moon: the “lunar” Intelligent has above all a global intelligence of beings, things and situations. Thanks to his receptivity, his psychological and mental plasticity, he has no difficulty putting himself in the place of others, understanding them intimately, as if they were another self. It adapts automatically, effortlessly, to all circumstances and environments. His humor is good-natured, sympathetic, incapable of hurting.

Stupid Moon: the stupid “lunar” perceives the world around him and the beings who inhabit it only from the angle of his lazy subjectivity and his immediate personal and natural needs (eating, sleeping, etc.). Isolated in his protective cocoon, in his egocentric bubble and unconsciously becoming one with it, totally indifferent to others, there is nothing for him to understand, nothing to discover, nothing to imagine. It is a vegetable that digests, nothing else…

Smart and foolish Moon: the intelligent and stupid “lunar” lives in the small soft and sheeplike comfort of his routines and intellectual habits without ever having the temptation to change them. His thoughts are soft, indolent, tasteless and without relief. He is only able to truly understand beings, things and situations that do not disturb him, do not jostle him, do not disturb his tranquility and his daily well-being.

Sun

Smart Sun: the “solar” Intelligent has above all a clear, neat, orderly logical intelligence, a very organized unifying vision of the world which allows him immediately and permanently to situate himself with precision in the face of beings, things and situations. He knows better than anyone to what extent each individual is a unique center and makes a constant cerebral effort to put himself in the place of others. His humor is based on a proud self-mockery which he hopes will enhance him.

stupid sun: the stupid “solar” is a limited monster locked up in its a priori, its certainties, its implacable and intangible dogmas. His point of view is the only valid one. If someone else doesn’t think like him, he’s wrong, period. He asks himself no questions, doubts nothing, does everything possible not to hurt himself and is totally devoid of the slightest bit of humor, so self-satisfied is he with his self-centered little person.

Smart and foolish Sun: the smart and foolish “Solar” is the height of narcissistic arrogance. Specialist in a field he knows by heart, imbued with his knowledge, his culture and his knowledge, he decides and judges everything from this field, which makes him phenomenally stupid as soon as he deals with subjects he does not know: in his self-satisfied vanity, he is convinced that he has a say in everything. As for self-mockery, let’s not talk about it: even naked, this pretentious and blind king thinks he is dressed…

Mercury

Smart Mercury: the “mercurian” Intelligent is characterized above all by a flexible, mobile, fast cerebrality. Curious about everything, fond of the unknown and new, he multiplies his interests and, deeply communicative, spontaneously open to the point of view of others, is always ready to question his a priori and modify his opinion. prior. Unable to take anything seriously, including himself, his desacralizing humor knows that all certainty is volatile and conceptions exist only to change constantly.

Stupid Mercury: the stupid “Mercurian” is incapable of fixing on a subject and going into it in depth. Superficial, his wandering attention does not fix on anything, retains nothing, memorizes nothing. He wanders from center of interest to center of interest, passing from one idea to another without ever establishing a connection, dispersing himself in vain in bits of disjointed thoughts without any real object. Barely born, his curiosity runs out and searches for new objects or subjects of conversation, always as vain, useless and without interest.

Smart and foolish Mercury: the smart and foolish “Mercurian” is hyper-brilliant in his flash deductions, ultra-fast in his overview of the subjects that interest him… and exasperating by dint of disengaged casualness: he zaps brilliantly from one idea to another, plays shamelessly with and on words, mistaking his puns for reasoning, finds his attitude as an amused spectator of the thousand facets of the world witty and transcendent, believes himself to be deep and interesting when he only makes irony, thus masking his profound powerlessness to to act.

Venus

Smart Venus: the “venusian” Intelligent is characterized above all by an intelligence of the heart and situations. Rather than rational and imperturbable logic, he prefers feelings, feelings, experiences: he understands through emotional contagion. The only ideas and thoughts that are valid in his eyes are those that echo in everyone’s sensitivity: he knows instinctively that reasoning or theories that are not embodied in an experience, a practice, concrete gestures have no weight. His spontaneous compassion helps him to put himself fully in the place of others.

Stupid Venus: the stupid “Venusian” does not think, does not question himself, does not try to structure his opinions. He likes or he does not like the reasoning or thoughts that others develop in front of him, and only knows how to spout out platitudes that have touched, moved, seduced him without even realizing it. Only his personal desires of the moment are essential in his eyes; Others are for him only a presence capable of satisfying them, and he is totally uninterested in them if he does not show himself capable of doing so.

Smart and foolish Venus: the smart and foolish “Venusian” is a subtle and refined esthete who reduces the universe which surrounds him and the beings which populate it to a game of pleasant or unpleasant appearances, to an erotic theater whose only director is the desire. He lives in the empire of the senses and of fashion, erects his (good or bad) feelings and his egocentric and claimed hedonism into superior principles, identifies Beauty with Truth, builds his thought on subjective data, from words or images that please him and charm his ear.

Mars

Smart Mars: the “marsian” Intelligent is essentially characterized by a practical intelligence, an intelligence of situations. For him, no scholarly and abstract reasoning can replace the knowledge that one acquires in the field, by observing the mechanisms at work and the observable relationships between causes and effects. He does not believe in grand speeches or abstract theories until they have been tested, verified, experienced. For him, each is responsible for his own actions and all the rest is ridiculous and vain.

Stupid Mars: the stupid “Marsian” is particularly at ease in stupidity: he does not think, he acts at close range, with a total absence of hindsight and reflection. He is a brute perfectly allergic to abstractions, a primitive reactant who sees no further than the end of his nose (which, for him, we therefore hope is long) and his imperious need to do something, even whatever. He opposes others frontally, becomes stupidly active, considers those who think and theorize the world as useless mouths to feed.

Smart and foolish Mars: the smart and foolish “Marsian” has only one word in his mouth: “experience”, without ever realizing that there are no facts without a theory to explain or discover them. It elevates its own practices and experiments to the rank of universal and incomparable dogmas, insensitive to any criticism and any questioning. He thinks he is clever when he opposes, when he plays the systematic contrarian by brandishing a thick common sense against sophisticated ideas and cheerfully confuses unbridled aggressiveness and humor.

Jupiter

Smart Jupiter: the “jupiterian” intelligent is characterized by an intelligence that is both logical and practical. Proceeding by successive comparisons, he knows perfectly and with good humor how to find simple intellectual constructions to describe, expose, classify beings, things and situations. His pragmatic thinking is always effective and useful, his humor understandable by all: they must allow the reconciliation of different points of view, the resolution of antagonisms by the search for a common and reasonable vision of the world.

Stupid Jupiter: the stupid “Jupiterian” is a fop always satisfied with his summary reasoning, his simplistic deductions, his affirmations full of peremptory and well-meaning good sense, his categorical and simplistic judgments. One way or another, he manages to stay within the norm and, fundamentally conservative, cannot stand being drawn into complex reasoning that would force him to reconsider his value judgments (which are not his own, but those of his social group) and to think for himself.

Smart and foolish Jupiter: the smart and foolish “Jupiterian” is a conceited, theatrical and talkative boaster, infatuated with the ego and the discourse who believes himself superior to everyone as soon as he imposes a definitive sentence, who would kill father and mother for a pun likely to garner applause. Sententious and dogmatic, prisoner of a narrow and limited utilitarian reason, he pontificates and judges supremely of everything and nothing from the height of his throne, makes the salon intellectual as hollow as he is ambitious, confuses pretentious logorrhea and real thought.

Saturn

Smart Saturn: the “saturnian” Intelligent is characterized by logical, abstract and practical intelligence. Sagacious, profound, skeptical, lucid and rigorous, his analytical thought dissects beings, things and situations to discover their hidden motives and structures. Distrustful of too obvious appearances and too simple explanations, he always looks for the background, the subtle causes, the flaws of fine reasoning. His caustic and insightful humor takes aim at those who claim to have it all figured out.

Stupid Saturn: the stupid “Saturnian” spends his time torturing his mind and racking his brains asking pointless questions, multiplying twisted, useless and vain hypotheses, ruminating thoughts as incoherent and contradictory as they are suspicious. His favorite hobbies are trying to imagine the worst that could happen, building inane and complicated scenarios, inventing new reasons to cultivate worry about anything. Egocentrically introverted, isolated, he understands nothing, neither himself nor anyone.

Smart and foolish Saturn: the smart and foolish “Saturnian” is a hideous argumentative rationalist, haircutter and sodomizer of beetles, inveterate follower of “Why make it simple when you can make it complicated”. He does everything in his power to be misunderstood, draws a funereal glory from it and is angry with the whole world for not understanding him. Systematic skepticism is transformed in him into quasi-religious dogma but he persists in existing in spite of everything, folded up in the ivory tower of his misanthropy which he takes for lucidity.

Uranus

Intelligent Uranus: the “uranian” Intelligent is characterized by an ultra-sharp, systematic, synthetic, conceptual brain. He is a virtuoso in the art of simplifying the complex, of unifying the disparate, of bringing together scattered knowledge into a clear thought that is solidly constructed and structured. Impactful, original, he is a specialist, a theoretician who thoroughly masters the disciplines he studies. For him, each being must follow his free path to become a fully autonomous and individualized person. His humor is scathing.

Stupid Uranus: the stupid “Uranian” is a small-footed paranoid convinced of the validity of his intimate convictions, of the reality of his vision of the world. His thought is fixed, Manichaean and intolerant: without taking any account of circumstances or experience, he decides, judges, decides true and false, right and wrong, good and evil according to criteria that he is the only one to know and that he himself does not always understand. Locked in the prison of his singularity, nothing and no one can make him reconsider his rigid and arthritic principles.

Smart and foolish Uranus: the smart and foolish “Uranian” is a big-footed paranoid convinced that he, and he alone, has found the best and only theory, the one that explains everything, makes all mysteries transparent and solves once and for all puzzles. He exhibits with self-satisfaction his reductive, dominating, arrogant, insolent and contemptuous cerebrality, plays at the original and the superior minds, convinced that he belongs to the elite of Those Who Know, and too bad if his intellectual constructions are only trompe l’oeil and window dressing.

Neptune

Smart Neptune: the “neptunian” Intelligent is characterized by an intuitive intelligence, full of finesse, paradoxes and nuanced and delicate convolutions, directly connected to the moving complexity of living things. His reasoning is often so bizarre, so strange, so puzzling that one wonders where he is coming from when it comes to clarity of thought; they are nevertheless of an astonishing accuracy because they are foreign to definitive conclusions, to immutable certainties and follow as closely as possible the fluctuating dialectic of life, which is impermanence.

Stupid Neptune: the stupid “Neptunian” lives in a veritable shambles of snatches of barely sketched thoughts that mix with vague intuitions, obscure fantasies, small and large delusions. He calculates anything from minute details, sometimes real, sometimes imaginary — it doesn’t matter to him. Dazed, stupefied, inconsistent, he moves through life like a thick fog, blindly relying on his impressions of the moment. Schizoid, twilight, he feels elsewhere, from another dimension and does not understand what he is doing here.

Smart and foolish Neptune: the smart and foolish “Neptunian” is a confuser, a king of confusion and confusion. His subtle but powerful charisma is such that one easily takes his bladders for lanterns, his delusions of smoky interpretation for strangely seductive reasoning. Moreover, he himself does not always make the difference between his dreams, his lies and reality: he is hostage to his whimsical imagination, to his vast, confused but contagious aspirations for lovers of magic potions and fairy tale powder.

Pluto

Smart Pluto: the “plutonian” Intelligent is characterized by an extremely subtle, complex cerebrality, an intelligence that is at the same time analytical, intuitive and cunning. Lucid, insightful and inquisitive, he has no equal in detecting the tiny flaws in the most beautiful reasoning, probing the mystery, tracking down and discovering what is buried, tu, hidden. His acute sense of the derisory and the vanity of everything gives him an immense distance vis-à-vis beings, things and situations and a deep humility in the face of the unknowable, as well as an icy and caustic humor.

Stupid Pluto: the stupid “Plutonian” is a kind of instinctive, unclassifiable, elusive, indomitable primitive human animal. He knows only one law: his own, of which he knows nothing and which commands him to survive by not giving a damn about what others think of it, unless he curls up inside himself, prisoner of a pain of being dumb, of a senseless existence in which he understands nothing and of which he knows obscurely that there is nothing to understand. Since he barely exists for himself, the others obviously don’t exist at all…

Smart and foolish Pluto: the smart and foolish “Plutonian” is a cynical and devious manipulator, an insidious and cunning dominator, hyper-gifted for shamelessly and unscrupulously exploiting the weaknesses and flaws of beings, things and situations. Perfectly amoral and proud of it, he considers himself above all human, all too human, law. He skilfully plays on the fascination produced by his caustic and incisive intelligence and his double-edged words to intimidate, worry, disorient and finally establish his occult hold on others.

Notes

▶ 1 What about child psychology?, René Zazzo, ed. Folio-Essays. All subsequent quotations, unless otherwise stated, are from this book.
▶ 2 The social is the set of behaviors that allow adaptation to social life.
▶ 3 Decentration is the ability not to take oneself for the center of the world, the ability to understand and accept that each individual is a “different center”. A person incapable of decentration is necessarily subjective; objectivity begins with the ability to decenter.

Article published in issue No. 15 of the Fil d’ARIANA (April 2001).