Skepticism Over the Merits Clearly, the intellectual merits of this field make many academicians uncomfortable if not skeptical.

"The books were evaluated on literary and intellectual merit," Mr. Ebershoff said.

Voltaire, for example, liked the idea of a state led by scholarly mandarins, chosen on the basis of intellectual merit in a strict examination system.

The Press not only publishes scholarly works, but also disseminates works of intellectual merit and general interest to a broad reader audience.

Only items of particular artistic or intellectual merit were exempt from the sale.

But this being school, and schools being under constant pressure to deliver better academically prepared children, school officials and community members are quick to note knitting's intellectual merits.

He's going to pick some place, first of all, that has intellectual merit.

Traditionally, many of America's private colleges and universities have admitted students based on intellectual merit regardless of their financial situation.

Yet by nearly any measure - intellectual merit, economic payoff or sheer excitement among bright young investigators - small science is more important than its big cousin.

Similarly, people debating the intellectual merits of poo makes me wonder if I have perhaps awoken in an alternative universe.