I am looking for the word that means "to do something purely as an intellectual pursuit." A closely related concept is doing something for obe's own edification, but that's not the word I'm looking for. I am a scientist and the idea could be described by a saying we have, which is "science for the sake of science," which is to say for the sake of accumulating knowledge with no other obvious intrinsic value.

A starting point: that's "pure science," where the other kind is "applied science."

In many fields, to do something purely for the love of it is to be an "amateur," in the original, literal, sense.