Etymology: Stupidity Is A Lack of

Stupidity
is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit. It may be innate, assumed or

reactive. The word stupid comes from the Latin word stupere. Stupid characters are often used for
comedy in fictional stories. Walter B. Pitkin called stupidity "evil", but in a
more Romantic spirit William Blake and Carl Jung believed stupidity can be the mother of wisdom.
Contents
 1Etymology
 2Definition
 3Playing stupid
 4Intellectual stupidity
 5Persisting in folly
 6In culture
o 6.1In comedy
o 6.2In literature
o 6.3In film
 7See also
 8References
 9Further reading
 10External links
Etymology
Engraving after Pieter Breughel the Elder, 1556. caption: Al rijst den esele ter scholen om leeren, ist eenen
esele hij en zal gheen peert weder keeren ("Even if the Ass travels to school to learn, as a horse he will not
return")
The root word stupid,[1] which can serve as an adjective or noun, comes from the Latin verb stupere,
for being numb or astonished, and is related to stupor.[2] In Roman culture, the stupidus was the
professional fall guy in the theatrical mimes.[3]
According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, the words "stupid" and "stupidity" entered the
English language in 1541. Since then, stupidity has taken place along with "fool," "idiot," "dumb,"
"moron," and related concepts as a pejorative for misdeeds, whether purposeful or accidental, due to
absence of mental capacity.
Definition
Stupidity is a quality or state of being stupid, or an act or idea that exhibits properties of being stupid.
[4]
In a character study of "The Stupid Man" attributed to the Greek philosopher Theophrastus (c. 371
– c. 287 BC), stupidity was defined as "mental slowness in speech or action". The modern English
word "stupid" has a broad range of application, from being slow of mind (indicating a lack of
intelligence, care or reason), dullness of feeling or sensation (torpidity, senseless, insensitivity), or
lacking interest or point (vexing, exasperating). It can either imply a congenital lack of capacity for
reasoning, or a temporary state of daze, or slow-mindedness.
In Understanding Stupidity, James F. Welles defines stupidity this way: "The term may be used to
designate a mentality which is considered to be informed, deliberate and maladaptive." Welles
distinguishes stupidity from ignorance; where stupidity means one must know they are acting in their
own worst interest in that it must be a choice, not a forced act or accident. Lastly, it requires the
activity to be maladaptive, in that it is in the worst interest of the actor, and specifically done to
prevent adaption to new data or existing circumstances."[5]
Playing stupid
Eric Berne described the game of "Stupid" as having "the thesis...'I laugh with you at my own
clumsiness and stupidity.'"[6] He points out that the player has the advantage of lowering other
people's expectations, and so evading responsibility and work; but that he or she may still come
through under pressure, like the proverbially stupid younger son.[7]
Wilfred Bion considered that psychological projection created a barrier against learning anything
new, and thus its own form of pseudo-stupidity.[8]
Intellectual stupidity
Otto Fenichel maintained that "quite a percentage of so-called feeble-mindedness turns out to be
pseudo-debility, conditioned by inhibition ... Every intellect begins to show weakness when affective
motives are working against it".[9] He suggests that "people become stupid ad hoc, that is, when they
do not want to understand, where understanding would cause anxiety or guilt feeling, or would
endanger an existing neurotic equilibrium."[10]
In rather different fashion, Doris Lessing argued that "there is no fool like an intellectual ... a kind of
clever stupidity, bred out of a line of logic in the head, nothing to do with experience."[11]
Persisting in folly
In the Romantic reaction to Enlightenment wisdom, a valorisation of the irrational, the foolish, and
the stupid emerged, as in William Blake's dictum that "if the fool would persist in his folly he would
become wise";[12] or Jung's belief that "it requires no art to become stupid; the whole art lies in
extracting wisdom from stupidity. Stupidity is the mother of the wise, but cleverness never."[13]
Similarly, Michel Foucault argued for the necessity of stupidity to re-connect with what our articulate
categories exclude, to recapture the alterity of difference.[14]
In culture
A stereotyped image of American stupidity (later claimed by MAD Magazine to become Alfred E. Neuman),
used in an editorial critical of abolishing the poll tax in the American South, with a caption showing the person
wants to vote but is too ignorant to understand what voting means
In comedy
The fool or buffoon has been a central character in much comedy. Alford and Alford found
that humor based on stupidity was pr

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Stupidity

is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit. It may be innate, assumed or

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