For
Socrates (469–399 BC), intellectualism is the view that "one will do what is right or best just as soon as one truly understands what is right or best"; that
virtue is a purely intellectual matter, since virtue and
knowledge are cerebral relatives, which a person accrues and improves with dedication to
reason. So defined,
Socratic intellectualism became a key philosophic doctrine of
Stoicism. The Stoics are well known for their teaching that the good is to be identified with virtue. • No one desires evil. • No one errs or does wrong willingly or knowingly. • Virtueall virtueis knowledge. • Virtue is sufficient for happiness. However, it is clear in Meno that virtue is not knowledge, rather True Belief. Typically, Stoic accounts of care for the self required specific
ascetic exercises meant to ensure that not only was knowledge of truth memorized, but learned, and then integrated to the self, in the course of transforming oneself into a
good person. Therefore, to understand truth meant "intellectual knowledge", requiring one's integration to the (universal) truth, and
authentically living it in one's speech, heart, and conduct. Achieving that difficult task required continual care of the self, but also meant being someone who embodies truth, and so can readily practice the
Classical-era rhetorical device of
parrhesia: "to speak candidly, and to ask forgiveness for so speaking"; and, by extension, practice the
moral obligation to speak the truth, even at personal risk. == Contemporary views ==