The basic stupidity of anti-intellectual assessments of the works of intellectuals is perhaps most clearly demonstrated by comparing the different treatments received by two different sorts of authors at the hands of the anti-intellectual. Specifically, the author of a mathematical work who expects that his readers will already be familiar with linear algebra and analysis produces a book considered “advanced,” but the author of a literary work who expects his readers to be familiar with Joyce and Sophocles produces a book considered “pretentious.” Implicit in this assessment is the assumption that a work of literature should be immediately accessible, but this assumption is itself founded upon the false assumption that there are no essential ideas about humanity that one must work to understand.
But even philosophy has its pons asinorum.