it is dangerous to trust only intelligence?

I would say yes, for several reasons


As you have already said raw intelligence power is completely amoral.

Scondly intelligent people often assume they know best. They sometimes do, but nearly always discount the possibility that someone else might know better.

Wisdom comes through experience and the application of reason and intelligence to problem solving.

I would not want the pilot of my passenger aircraft to be 15 years old, no matter how intelligent s/he is.

There's nothing dangerous in being amoral.
It's just that the misguided moral majority are too weak to stand on theor own viewpoints and allow such a thing to exist peacefully.

Oh really? Aren't there moral obligations we all owe to each other, something to do with the condition of being human?

I might not feel particularly safe knowing the rest of society held particularly strong moral views, but I would feel distinctly uneasy knowing everyone else operated in a purely deterministic, amoral fashion.

Wisdom and intelligence are not the same thing. From one perspective it may be intelligent to kill everone in third world countries and to kill all those born with or possesing genetics defects thus reducing hunger and disease and leaving the healthy and wealthy parts of the world to enjoy the planet resources. What we need is WISDOM based on mans empathy and concern for others to overcome our sufferings and establish a truly global civilization.

Yes, but it is far more dangerous to trust ignorance and stupidity.

Immoral might be dangerous. Amorality is not a bad thing (nor a good thing I suppose...

I think amorality is more dangerous than immorality. Someone who is immoral, knows the difference between right and wrong and choses to do wrong.

There is always a chance he might act for good in future. Or faced with a choice of doing great wrong or not, he might even desist.

But someone who is amoral has no sense of right or wrong. These terms mean nothing to him. Here we have a proto-Stalin or Pol Pot. Right and wrong, good and bad, are overwhelmed by the ebb and flow of dialectial materialism which is of itself purely amoral.

You make a good point, but I simply must disagree*.
If you start from a moral point of view and are hardened by reality, you discover the elusiveness of ideals. You have several options:
You continue believing in these naive ideals which are impossible to impose and will cause you to suffer, for you can't do anything the way things get done.
You cheat. You become immoral. You decide to actively cause suffering.
You read Nietzsche and buddhist literature :p. You come to the following conclusions: Detachment from suffering and concept(including moral ones) will bring you inner peace and this can be shared with others.
Of course, if you don't start from a moral point...But stating that even Stalin had a morally educated childhood will make him immoral, not amoral.

*Disagreeing is my nature. One which I must nevertheless alter to a state of acceptance(making me a very lousy member of A2K, because I wouldn't discuss anything :p)

Now, for some thoughts on the actual topic
Depends on what you call 'intelligence'. detailing it with inserting the term 'wisdom' was a good move but nowhere is written that wisdom includes wishing peace and love to all. Nor should we hold THAT as our highest value.
'Wisdom comes through experience and the application of reason and intelligence to problem solving.', this can be considered one definition.
wis·dom ( P ) Pronunciation Key (wzdm)
n.
The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight.
It may very well include morality, but this is not a necessity.

Ah yes, if we ALL ONLY trust intelligence, I suppose there's no longer any problem. Any moral conflict we might have had have now perished. Together with some of the worlds suffering and we'd be replaced by a spartan(not athenic? Maybe both.) society.

I agree with virtually all that has been said above. I feel that if this group of posters had power to rule the world we would be much better off. Intelligence, on the whole, is a positive force. Nevertheless, as has been observed above, intelligence can be a tool of evil. I would prefer that people I consider evil to be dumb: so that they will be less effective in carrying out their evil (from my perspective) plans--like the Bush administration. I do agree that emotional maturity and self-realization in the existential sense (see Rollo May) is critical for the constructive life. Amorality is bad if it is the amorality of the psychopath (sociopath), but if it refers to the person who tries to be situationally ethical and socially responsible rather than just living like a moral robot according to inherited rules, it is less than desireable.

It is potentially dangerous to trust only intelligence.

Some of the Nazis were very intelligent. And very dangerous.

I'm sure some terrorists are very intelligent.

I appreciate the British tendency to describe the intelligent person as "clever". Wisdom, sophistication, experience, intellectual depth, enlightenment, etc. overlap with intelligence but seem to go beyond it.

lol, i totally agree with you, but, intelligence is not the all, and it could not always independently function well. i can say intelligence is necessary but not sufficient.

yea, to some extent, amorality is more dangerous. someone is immoral do not entail that he would aways act as evil. he would chose to do what he like to do or what is benefit to him, or something else that he could give out a reason (no matter what it is)to do so,among those immoral actions. and since he know the difference between right and wrong, he would deliberate before he choses, thus at least not all the evil he can think of would be fulfill.
but as to amoral one, he know nothing and would do nothing to avoid immorality.

It's the intelligent folks that built the most dangerous weapons on this planet. It's the intelligent folks that created drugs that are dangerous to humans. It's what the intelligent person does with his intelligence that counts. Intelligence does not equte to morality, trust or ethical behavior. One of the most intelligent presidents we've had in the long time is Bill J Clinton. I know many people who are not intelligent, but they have above average morals, humility, and ethical behavior. I also know many developmentally disabled people; I find them to be more trustworthy and human than many intelligent people. I know my share of intelligent folks too, and most are good people. Just remember; intelligence and morals are mutually exclusive concepts.

i can understand this statement and in essence, i agree with you at this point. would you like to detail your statement about emotional maturity and self-realization?
(i am a greenhorn, and sometimes i don't know how to describe one ideas precisely and i am more obscure to make it fleshy. i am learning. )

C.I, well put. But I suspect a typo. Did you not mean to say in your last sentenve that intelligence and morality are NOT mutually exclusive concepts?
I want to add that there are many types of intelligence. I know people who have doctorates in the humanities, who have published and achieved tenure in major universities but are mathematically illiterate for either lack of interest, math block, or just plain stupidity in that part of their brain. And I know math whizzes who flounder when confronted with philosophical problems unreachable by mathematical reasoning.

Neoquixote, what a challenge. Why don't you open a thread with that very good question? Since the group is more knowledgeable and intelligent than I or any one member, you will get a fuller response from all of us.

How's THAT for a constructive cop out?

i suppose the difference between intelligence and wisdom can be put as follow.

i just could not make my idea clear,although i think i know it well.