Film director A. Konchalovsky said in one of his interviews: “I am, obviously, still a very Russian person, since I live not according to the law, but according to concepts...” This is the thought. Probably, in order to understand it, a couple of reservations should be made. The term “concepts” for most people has a pronounced character of involvement in a certain criminal environment. That is, the “concepts” are those of gopniks and bandits. And, so to speak, normal people have a law. But, you must admit, director A. Konchalovsky somehow bears little resemblance to a gopnik and a bandit. So what is this: “concepts”? There is an English word “intelligence”. As a rule, it is translated into Russian, as they say, “head-on”: intelligence. Although, strictly speaking, this is not a translation, but a transcription. There was a word written in Latin, we wrote the same word in Cyrillic, and got “intelligence” instead of “intelligence”. Is this a translation? Well, it’s the same as saying “sandwich” instead of “butterbrot”. This is not a translation. The translation is: butterbrot is bread and butter. That is, a translation from a foreign language should reflect the essence of the subject, and not just transcribe the definition. This feature of the translation of the word “intelligence” is associated with a series of funny fakes, such as the appearance of the term “emotional intelligence” in pop psychology. Entire books are being published in which this supposedly existing emotional intelligence is described in detail... Of course, no “emotional intelligence” exists: for the reason that is discussed below. But the myth is persistent. And the reason, simply, is the negligence of the translators... The word “intelligence” in Russian is most correctly translated as “the ability to understand.” Yes, it's a bit complicated. It could be a little simpler, as “understanding”: although the first option more accurately reflects the content. Well, or as “concepts”. Yes, yes: what in English is designated as “intelligence”, in Russian has its closest analogue - “concepts” In the same sense: bro, do you have the ability to understand? Do you understand what the point is? Do you live according to concepts?..Well, Gopniks, that’s what they say?..That is, the so-called. “Emotional intelligence” is, of course, not “emotional intelligence”. Intelligence can only be rational: there is no other. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand other people's emotions. That is, the presence of a concept in this area... Do you, bro, understand what I feel now? Do you have a concept that it’s time to turn on the back one?.. Or is there no such concept? Another widely known term in Russian is derived from the term “intelligence”: “intelligentsia”. Or “intellectual.” Who is an intellectual, and what is the intelligentsia? Strange as it may seem to the unprepared mind, an intellectual is the one who has concepts. And living by them. Capable of understanding. That is, yes, you were not mistaken: a person who lives according to concepts is not a gopnik, but an intellectual. And a group of people capable of understanding and living according to concepts is not a criminal brigade, and not a gang, but an intelligentsia. But all the others who do not have a qualitative ability to understand, to understand the true content of what is happening around them, and what They do it themselves, they don’t live by concepts. They live by the law. Actually, the law is a set of rules for those for whom the ability to adequately understand is still an unattainable luxury. After all, understanding requires effort. Understanding presupposes that each time and each situation should be assessed anew: taking into account the changing context, circumstances, participants... Refusing the usual stereotypes, reading the second, third and so on semantic series of what is happening... Look at the situation, so to speak, from a bird's eye view, and not from the perspective of a pig that found an acorn... But with the law it is much simpler: opened - read - fulfilled. In the Russian tradition, by the way, there was a peculiar concept of “kon”. They meant the same thing as the term “intelligence” and the word “concepts”: the ability to understand. Including, to understanding without direct explanation... Well, and accordingly, they lived according to the rules. And not according to the law, that is, they lived without...