An intellectual traffics in ideas, not outcomes. They are subject to conversational scrutiny but spared the crucible of immediate, material failure.
Engineers and pharmacists, though equally cerebral, confront reality’s unforgiving feedback: gravity, chemistry, consequence.
Political philosophy exemplifies this divide. Its truths are neither self-evident nor swiftly verified; ideas may capture masses yet remain morally bankrupt or implausible.
Success in the realm of ideas is ambiguous—measured not by correctness or falsification, but by endurance, influence, or even unintended consequence.