The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and values education

Abstract

Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences has a potential to change all of our conceptions about the abilities of human beings from top to bottom. Gardner's main aim in this theory is to prove that intelligence is not a single construct and human beings possess at least seven distinct intelligences independent from each other. Gardner (1999) in his work of Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century emphasizes that one of our aims in the new century will not only bring these different intelligences together and use in harmony but also to question how to bring intelligence and the morality together in order to help different people come together to live in happiness and peace to create a better world. This perspective leads us to think of the existence of a new intelligence. Things we witnessed in the 20th century and have been witnessing in the 21st century convince us about the importance and how much we are in need of discussing the existence of the Moral Intelligence. This article advocates the existence of the Moral Intelligence which Gardner and his friends have difficulty in defining and value education can be studied under the umbrella of the theory of Multiple Intelligences focusing on the Moral Intelligence.