Nature of intelligentsia: essential criteria

The article is aimed at critical analysis of modern approaches to the definition of the intelligentsia’s essence. Priority criteria are divided into three groups: social, personal (spiritual and moral) and ideological. The limitations of definitions of the intelligentsia based only on social criteria have been established. It is substantiated that neither one of these criteria separately, nor their mechanical sum exhausts the entire content of the concept. Likewise, the analysis of personal, spiritual and moral criteria of the intelligentsia also leads to the conclusion that they are insufficient, since there are no objective and reliable parameters to form a list of these criteria. The ideological criteria of the intelligentsia are also not sufficiently reliable, objective and scientific parameters of the intelligentsia as a social group in the context of competition between alternative ideologies and social interests. The authors point out the methodological problems of attempts to combine social, personal and ideological criteria of the intelligentsia in various combinations. The key to the constructive integration of alternative approaches to defining the intelligentsia is to define it as a special interclass, interstratal social group of producers of social consciousness and personality.