I alter it foolishly for the scholarly types (8)
I believe the answer is:
literati
'the scholarly types' is the definition.
'literati' can be an answer for 'types' (I have seen 'Bookish types ' mean 'literati' so perhaps 'types' could also mean 'literati'). I'm unsure of the 'the scholarly' bit.
'i alter it foolishly' is the wordplay.
'foolishly' indicates an anagram.
'i'+'alter'+'it'='ialterit'
'ialterit' with letters rearranged gives 'LITERATI'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for literati that I've seen before include "Learned people, men of letters" , "Well-read and scholarly people" , "Learned, well-read people" , "intellectuals" , "Men and women of letters" .)