MI+B2+Chapter+14



**Abstract** Why this intelligence has not been either accepted or discredited is a little mystifying. It has been on the theoretical table for a long time. No one, including Dr. Gardner himself seems ready to make a final verdict. Some already have made a decision or at least are acting as if it does exist. The general profile of the existential intelligence has been discussed at length on many websites. I believe in this intelligence regardless of the final verdict. People who think in terms of a larger than life, big picture may well fit this category of learner. How we fit into the larger whole of the human race, the towns we live in, our surroundings or our families are questions an existentialist would ask. Small details are likely not to matter as much. I know people like this. I’m sure we all do. A student such as this would always need to know what the grand, big picture is in order to make sense of it all. It would not only be very important to tie lessons to the real world but a requirement for this type of learner. How information related to the larger human community would most likely trigger enthused [| learning] and meaningful results. Almost all of us were puzzled that the [|existential intelligence] has not been either accepted or rejected. We are also divided in whether or not existential teaching belongs in the classroom. At the same time many of the writings point to important people in history who were existentialist from Shakespeare to Einstein. Some suggested themselves as existentialist. It may be safe to assume many more people have a proclivity toward this mode of learning. There seems to be a little bit of misunderstanding on how strongly existentialism ties in with religion. They are not inseparable. Anytime someone questions how they fit in to a larger whole i.e. the universe, human race, community, they are thinking in this mode. Classroom lessons can stimulate this very thing without opening the religion “can of worms”. How mathematical breakthroughs benefited all people, how scientific theories and discoveries “evolution” awakened larger philosophies all stimulate the [|existential mind]. Many of us are understandably unsure of this intelligence because information is still hard to come by, though it is out there. We are all existentialists by nature if we are true educators. Don’t we see our learners as fitting into the larger whole when we sent them out into the world? We want them to be productive citizens and contribute to their communities, society, and the world at large. We think big for them. We think in terms of the big existentialist picture.
 * Jason Malbon - Abstract/Synthesis**
 * Synthesis**

Jared Boghosian
Existentialism is a strange concept in the first place, considering it for an intelligence spot sounds really strange. However, I can see where the evidence is present especially in literature. Much of Shakespeare's plays dealt with existential ideas and philosophies. Take //Hamlet// for example, his most famous speech begins "To be, or not to be?" Quick paraphrase is "should I live, or just commit suicide?" I don't necessarily believe that existentialism should be made an intelligence. However, I think it is an important idea to talk about when analyzing themes in literature. I'm glad people are thinking about existentialism as a potential topic in curriculum, because it definitely has its merits. I plan on adopting the topic for some of my lessons.

Jared Merrifield
Chapter 14: MI Theory and Existential Intelligence

We have focused so much on the primary eight intelligences whilst reading this book that we have almost completely omitted the existence of a possible ninth intelligence: the existential. With the way that Gardner describes it, it seems to be a very “deep” intelligence, in which one perceives life from a very complex perspective, asking “why” questions for which we have no true knowable answer. Before reading the entire chapter, I speculated as to how this unique not-quite-an-intelligence can be applied effectively in the classroom, while still pertaining to a solid curriculum. I honestly couldn’t think of much, other than when students are studying the writings of conflicting philosophers (that could tie in to English, science, //and// history). I also empathize with the educators who fear that applying such intelligence might bring with it controversy, for a lot of people may take it as an affront to religion, comparable to the evolution fiasco. After reading further, I probably wouldn’t have considered the more scientific minds such as Newton and Einstein to be existential learners, even though I’ve had plenty of education on many such scientists. The same goes for mathematicians like Plato and Pythagoras, the Enlightenment and Renaissance, ancient European writings, and so on. Reading examples as pertaining to different subjects helped give me a clearer understanding of what existential learning is. I’m still not totally sure how I could apply this new intelligence in the classroom, if it even is an intelligence, but I suppose there is no big demand for it, at least not extensively.

Sarah Robinson
This chapter 14 has brought forth maybe one of the most important multiple intelligences to make sure your students understand because it is something outside of the box, although it is not a complete multiple intelligence yet. This not yet multiple intelligence is existential intelligence, which is someone that understands the working of the world through religion, culture, humans, good and evil. Though are many ways to bring existential intelligence into the classroom. The chapter gives the example that the symbol system of history such as maps can be compared to existential intelligence, which could be the Star of David. This chapter has taught that assess students through existential intelligence can teach students how important education is outside of the classroom is, and this will force the teacher to think out of the box. In mathematics existential intelligences can be taught through the creation of mathematics, which started with mystic components of great religious traditions that taught about numbers and concepts. This book gives me the great example of how to use this in my history classes. In history existential intelligence can be used to teach about the original reasons the pilgrims came over to the new world, and that was because of religious differences. This new multiple intelligence is something that can teach students more than most teacher could even imagine through any other multiple intelligences.

Jason Malbon
This short but interesting chapter examines the notion of an existential intelligence. This intelligence is defined by “a concern with ultimate life issues” (p.182). We have all known someone who seems very “deep” in how they see the world and themselves. I think of these kinds of people in the context of this intelligence. Think of large questions of the universe and our role in it. People of this sort always seem to be on another planet. My only pessimism of the existence of existential intelligence is that anyone can think in this way. We all have at some time or another thought about the meaning of life and the question of why are we here. Personally, I’m still waiting for the answer. Evidence seems to be leaning of its existence nonetheless. If this intelligence is ever fully embraced and becomes the ninth learning style, how will further impact teaching? How does a teacher when talking about the food pyramid, bring in larger questions of the cosmos to accommodate this learner? Although other disciplines are described with the existential learner in mind, it seems this learner above all would exhaust an educator above all others.

Mike Lawson
The possible existential intelligence, when explained in the book seemed to be on a pedestal. They way Gardner explained it was epic. “a concern for ultimate life issues”(p. 182). Ultimate life issues are things that I don’t even think about on a daily basis. Being completely understanding of them is an interesting intelligence. I understand that only mastering this intelligence would create such an understanding, but it is still very interesting. I liked how Gardner as an educational figure quickly strayed from any mention of gods and even mentions them as “truths”. I feel that a lot of leaders throughout the world’s history are existential learners. Dating back to the dawn of civilizations the leaders have always had an edge in understating the world in general. People were looked up to if you had a greater understanding of our universe and where we are in terms of, well everything. Seeing how this new intelligence connected to my concentration made me even more interested in it. Understanding existential beliefs like why people migrated to North America and why religion plays such a large part in our history play a huge part in mastering my concentration. My question would be should I aim to accompany this possible existential learning when developing my classroom and lesson plans.

Alicia Kenison
Gardner had worked on the 9th intelligence, but it is hard to bring “EXISTENTIAL” to the classroom. We are in a trap when we must keep church and state separated. Armstrong defines this intelligence as, “the capacity to locate oneself with respect to the furthest reaches of the cosmos—the infinite and the infinitesimal—and the related capacity to locate the significance of life, the meaning of death, the ultimate fate of physical and psychological worlds, and such profound experiences as love of another person or total immersion in a work of art” (Gardener, 1999). In this intelligence we are suppose to detect who we are, what is evil and where we are going in life. Existential includes all the aspects it needs, yet is still an iffy subject by means of Bible and such. The Bible is usually frowned upon in schools and causes teaching in a spiritual manner difficult. Although we don’t know it more than half the time, we do use existential in our teaching by immersing ourselves completely in our teachings, giving new strategies, bringing up religious events (Holocaust) and mentioning the Greeks, who created math methods.

Scott Bowden
I was very interested with the idea of an existential intelligence. I think it is a good idea to think about and to consider in everyday life, but it seems to me inappropriate to discuss in the classroom. Forcing students to ponder heavy life issues and grapple with life on that level is rather difficult. It would be unfair for the students to think about issues that adults and philosophers think long and hard about and write thousand page books about if they don't want to. Some people (myself included) are completely okay and content with the world around me and to question it would only drop my mood. It would be non-conducive to a good classroom environment if students thought about those issues on a deeper level. It's a great idea and everyone should have exposure to it, but it should be a choice, not an educational force.

Amanda Fitzpatrick
This chapter discussed the idea of the ninth intelligence, that of Existential intelligence. My first reaction when reading this was "how on Earth could this be incorporated into any lesson?" Although the author took a stab at answering my question I, however, am not convinced that the ideas of existentialism have a place in the classroom, especially not one where the only relation the author could think of was adding the Bible into the read and/or relating the Bible to various other works of literature. Although I think that the ability to be able to see the bigger picture and understand different religions and cultures is an important one, I don't think that if it were an intelligence I could apply it to at least two of my lesson plans-there just is not the content for it. The ability to understand life in a deeper fashion is most likely beneficial in most writing, however to say that if you are an Existentialist that you can write really good essays is not giving this intelligence enough credit. At this point I would have to say I am very grateful that it is not currently an intelligence.

Susanna Cooper
I liked some of the points this chapter made, especially regarding the fact that existentialism plays a part in almost all aspects of any culture and way of life. Since humans do ponder the meaning of life, death suffering, then why not address them within the material we use in the classroom? This furthers the students thinking and allows them to see existentialism from a variety of perspectives. By presenting existentialism in many of the things we teach, the students will have a better understanding of the ideas and can make better judgments for themselves, than just a narrow view that they may have received from their life outside of the classroom. Just as with anything else, school is a place to open minds and encourage new thinking about all topics under the sun. I also believe that as a teacher, I should show students that spiritually isn’t just dealing with religion. One view of spiritually is to be “one with yourself” to feel and understand what means the most to the student. I believe that each and every student can find some form of spirituality for themselves while in school, especially by using multiple intelligences. I like how this chapter showed examples of how existentialism is present in almost every subject, and how much of an impact it has on all world cultures. We should not hide this fact from the students, we should teach it to them in an objective and structured way.

Diana Quinlan
In this chapter there is discussion of adding a ninth intelligence to the multiple intelligences list. This possible intelligence is the existential intelligence. I am quite skeptical of this intelligence, just like I am skeptical of the naturalist intelligence. To be honest I have no idea how I would incorporate this into my class. I want to be a history teacher, and history forces students to ponder the issues and problems of certain societies but I think pondering heavy life issues would be very difficult for most students. It would also be very difficult to have students ponder heavy life issues which have already passed. I do not believe existentialism has any place in a high school or middle school classroom.

Eric Cole
I think out of all the stuff that we have read about in this class, existential intelligence fascinates me the most. Now perhaps it is because it deals with the big questions of life: “Why is there evil?” “Where do we come from?” “What is the meaning of it all?” I mean, these questions have plagued man for centuries. We have written entire books on these questions. However, I think the reason why this idea of existential intelligence fascinates me so much is because I think I am an existential person. I love dealing with the human condition. Human Beings fascinate me. I mean we have the capacity to lie, and to love. We are able to hate, and feel joy, and feel sorrow, and we are able to express these emotions in multiple ways. Why? What makes us so special as a race that we are given these gifts? These are the type of questions that I think about all the time.

Sarah McGinley
Multiple Intelligences Chapter 14: MI Theory and Existential Intelligence 2/9/10

It has been said that there could be a potential ninth intelligence that has yet to be discovered. They call this the Existential Intelligence. The Existential Intelligence has to do with life issues. This chapter talks about how this potential intelligence fits in with the other intelligences and what the criteria is for it. This has to do with the idea of getting in touch with your spiritual side and I think that the people who are religious might want this intelligence to be established but on the other hand people who are not really religious, they might think that this potential intelligence is not real. This issue could go either way and I think there is going to be some arguments about it for a while. We have not yet been able to fully define this intelligence and though it is not on the list of intelligences, we should not forget about its existence. I am not sure how I feel about this potential intelligence. I think there is still a lot of research and studies to be uncovered before we can fully call this the ninth intelligence.