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Is there a word for someone who is a genius, or intelligent, but ignorant of obvious things, in a none intention sense? A character flaw.

I think of Orwell's "doublethink", according to Wiktionary, the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them, but that doesn't quiet do it. It is as if one does not ever discover their own ignorance, which would be required to pressure it!

I'm still searching.

herisson
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Sebastian
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  • In a sense, nothing is absolutely obvious - people notice different things. For example, your "doesn't quiet (sic) do it" has an 'obvious' spelling mistake that you missed :) . The other quality, of holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously, can range from paradoxes (e.g. dual nature of light) and oxymorons (e.g. black light) on the one hand, to blind spots and hypocrisy on the other. – Lawrence Dec 05 '17 at 23:16
  • I would like to point to other questions that are duplicates and whose titles more obviously show this, but I can't modify the above. Just do an in-house search for 'idiot savant'. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 05 '17 at 23:47

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The two word phrase idiot savant given in Merriam Webster describes such extremes.

One example is the highly rated professor who has difficulty buying clothes.

Another example is the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man.

Weather Vane
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