INTELLECTUALISM, a term applied, sometimes in a de rogatory sense, to the tendency to emphasize or over-emphasize the importance of thought at the expense of feeling or volition, or even of sensation and intuition. In moral philosophy intellec tualism tends to identify virtue with knowledge, evil with igno rance. In the theory of knowledge intellectualism or rationalism attaches more importance to thought than to sensation or intui tion. In ontology it conceives the ultimate nature of reality to be some kind of intelligence, or at least regards the universe as intelligible through and through. In psychology it treats cogni tion as the primary mental function, as more fundamental than feeling or volition. In aesthetics it stresses the importance of the ideas expressed in, or suggested by, the object of aesthetic appre ciation. In the sphere of religion intellectualism tends to attach supreme importance to theological doctrine or to religious philosophy rather than to religious sentiment or intuition.