Do Northern Europeans seem more intellectual in general than Southern Europeans? (life, people)

[Trimac20]

Do you think Northern Europeans and Northern European culture is more prone towards being thoughtful and intellectual, maybe because they seem more reserved, serious and introverted, whereas Southern European culture is more extroverted and flamboyant, and more concerned with 'doing' than 'thinking', and with living life to the fullest without overthinking it much?

Of course, I know some of the greatest thinkers and philosophers were Greeks and Italians, but I wonder if the overall culture in Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium - is more inclined this way.

[Perfect Stranger]

I wouldn't know. I'm Southern European so I couldn't even finish reading your post. So many long words put me off.

[irish_bob]

appearances can be decieving , on the surface , perhaps , yes

some people wear their intelectual ability lighter than others , i would say australians are an example of this , irish people too

[french user]

there are intelectual and non-intellectual people in all countries. I think you have a strange image of southern European culture. Culturally speaking, if we want at all price to make over-generalisations, I tend to think that it is more southern European cultures that favour more intellectual life and abstract things, while northern cultures are more inclined towards pragmatism and a maybe more materialistic approach to life.

[Neuling]

The division crap is gradually spilling over from the politics to the Europe forum. Southern Europeans are now becoming Europe's African-Americans, right?

[erasure]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Do you think Northern Europeans and Northern European culture is more prone towards being thoughtful and intellectual, maybe because they seem more reserved, serious and introverted, whereas Southern European culture is more extroverted and flamboyant, and more concerned with 'doing' than 'thinking', and with living life to the fullest without overthinking it much?

Of course, I know some of the greatest thinkers and philosophers were Greeks and Italians, but I wonder if the overall culture in Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium - is more inclined this way.

I find Russians to be the most intellectual out of all Europeans. ( After all it's only natural that the nation that is the most unsettled in political/economic sense of it in history would always question things more and dig deeper when it comes to the meaning of life, philosophy, history and what's not.)
Western Europeans are more pragmatic comparably to Russians, be that North or South ( even the French, whom I'd expected to be more on the intellectual side just because of their culture and history. They were however, more on pragmatic side on one hand, and light- hearted and humorous on another.)
The only exception I'd say were Germans; I guess it's a part of their national character to be discerning and to "dig" for a deeper meaning of life and social issues, not unlike Russians.

[brabham12]

A highly stereotyped debate. If you compare upper-middle class professionals or intellectuals from Northern Europe to Southern European peasants or craftsmen then you could come to the conclusion that the former is more sophisticated. However (!!), on the other hand you could also compare lower-class, "white trash" from Nothern Europe to educated and intelligent "Southerners". You see, it depends on the perception. Really relative.

[cmptrwlt]

Originally Posted by brabham12

A highly stereotyped debate. If you compare upper-middle class professionals or intellectuals from Northern Europe to Southern European peasants or craftsmen then you could come to the conclusion that the former is more sophisticated. However (!!), on the other hand you could also compare lower-class, "white trash" from Nothern Europe to educated and intelligent "Southerners". You see, it depends on the perception. Really relative.

So you are basically saying that working-class people from Northern Europe are white trash. That is idiotic and highly racist.

[brabham12]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

So you are basically saying that working-class people from Northern Europe are white trash. That is idiotic and highly racist.

I didn't say working-class, I said "lower-class" trash. Mostly refers to the type of people who don't work and are on the dole and furthermore are obnoxious, loud and basically the opposite of "intellectuals".

That type of people, you know?

[szyy]

Statistically speaking, people in the very South have less IQ than people from the North, though the highest IQ have people residing nearby the Alps. http://hbdchick.files.wordpress.com/...map-europe.png