The Collaborative International Dictionary
Intellectualism \In`tel*lec"tu*al*ism\, n.
Intellectual power; intellectuality.
The doctrine that knowledge is derived from pure reason.
Preference for activities involving exercise of the intellect; sometimes, an excessive emphasis on abstract or intellectual matters with deprecation of the value of feelings.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1829; see intellectual + -ism. Probably based on German Intellektualismus (said by Klein to have been coined 1803 by Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775-1854) from Late Latin intellectualis). In English, originally with reference to the doctrines of Leibnitz.
Wiktionary
n. 1 The use or development of intellect. 2 The doctrine that knowledge is derived from pure reason.
Wikipedia
Intellectualism denotes the use, development, and exercise of the intellect; the practice of being an intellectual; and the Life of the Mind. In the field of philosophy, “intellectualism” occasionally is synonymous with “ rationalism”, that is, knowledge mostly derived from reason and ratiocination. Socially, “intellectualism” negatively connotes: single-mindedness of purpose (“too much attention to thinking”) and emotional coldness (“the absence of affection and feeling”).
Usage examples of "intellectualism".
It was only two blocks under the green oaks that lined the streets of Stellenbosch, the small university town which was the citadel of Afrikaner intellectualism and culture.