Sentimental / Intellectual: The trivialization of certain terms obliges us to specify that we use the words “SENTIMENTAL” and “intellectual” in their proper and neutral meaning, without applying to “SENTIMENTAL” the pejorative and to “intellectual” the profane and banal nuances that conventional language lends them. “Sentimental” is that which pertains to sentiment, whether base or lofty, stupid or intelligent, worldly or sacral; “intellectual” is that which pertains to the intellect, whether doctrinal or methodical, discriminating or contemplative. Thus the term “intellectual” does not have the same ambivalence as the term “SENTIMENTAL”, for the simple reason that sentiment is a horizontal and ambiguous faculty, whereas the intellect – not just intelligence or reason alone – is by definition a vertical and ascending faculty. (GTUFS: FormSR, The Human Margin)
Sentimental Doctrine: A doctrine merits the epithet “SENTIMENTAL,” not because it makes use of a symbolism of the feelings or because it reflects incidentally in its form the sentiments of the writer who expounds it, but because its point of departure is determined more by feeling than by objective reality, which means that the latter is violated by the former. To this definition we must add a reservation in favor of the traditional doctrines, or some of them: strictly speaking, a true doctrine could be qualified by use of the word “SENTIMENTAL” when sentiment is introduced into the very substance of that doctrine, while limiting the truth, by force of circumstance, on account of the “subjective” and affective character of SENTIMENTALity as such; it is in this sense that Guénon spoke of the presence of a SENTIMENTAL element in the Semitic exoterisms, while pointing out that it is this element which causes the incompatibilities between dogmas of different origins. But in this case, the term “SENTIMENTAL” cannot mean that the doctrine itself originates in a SENTIMENTAL and therefore human reaction, as happens with profane ideologies; on the contrary, here the marriage between truth and sentiment is a providential and beneficial concession to certain psychological predispositions, so that the epithet in question is only applicable on condition that one specifies that it concerns orthodox doctrines. (GTUFS: TransfMan, Reflections on Ideological Sentimentalism)