"Multiple Intelligences" by Howard Gardner

From the book Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons by Howard Gardner:

I believe that in our society we suffer from three biases, which I have nicknamed "Westist," "Testist," and "Bestist." "Westist" involves putting certain Western cultural values, which date back to Socrates, on a pedestal. Logical thinking, for example, is important; rationality is important; but they are not the only virtues.

"Testist" suggests a bias towards focusing on those human abilities or approaches that are readily testable. If it can't be tested, it sometimes seems, it is not worth paying attention to. My feeling is that assessment can be much broader, much more humane than it is now and that psychologists should spend less time ranking people and more time trying to help them.

"Bestist" is a thinly veiled reference to David Halberstam's 1972 book The Best and the Brightest. Halberstam's title referred ironically to the figures, among them Harvard faculty members, who were brought to Washington to help President John F. Kennedy and in the process launched the Vietnam War. I think any belief that all the answers to a given problem like in one certain approach, such as logical-mathematical thinking, can be very dangerous. current views of intellect need to be leavened with other, more comprehensive points of view.

When he refers to assessments in the second paragraph above, he's referring to tests such as IQ and the SAT.

He proposes an individual-centered learning environment that takes the multifaceted view of intelligence, based on findings from the cognitive science and neuroscience.

I see Jung written all over the cognitive portion of it, don't you?

Gardner's theory began with seven very different but equally important intelligences:

• Musical Intelligence
• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
• Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
• Linguistic Intelligence
• Spatial Intelligence
• Interpersonal Intelligence
• Intrapersonal Intelligence

He later added an eighth:

• Naturalist Intelligence

He also looked at a ninth intelligence, calling it Existential Intelligence (has to do with the spiritual and the big questions of life), but did not have conclusive findings. (yet!) ;-)