Chapter 14: MI and Existential Intelligence

I was really excited to read Chapter 14 of MI in the Classroom, because I’ve always related as an existentially involved individual since before I became heavily interested in music or literature, and have always kept existential concerns at the forefront of my thoughts. It probably didn’t hurt that my human behavior teacher in high school preemptively included this as one of Gardner’s intelligences. I’m glad that the chapter did not dismiss Existential Intelligence as ridiculous, even backing it up in fields like math and science. I really hope that study of existential intelligence develops further. To my own experience, people who identify as existentially intelligent can feel alienated by a curriculum that could seem useless not only to real life, but to something larger than life. There’s a reason many existential thinkers have pushed away from schooling, or sought to educate themselves.