SPIRITUAL, EXISTENTIAL OR BOTH? THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE OF 'HIGHER' INTELLIGENCES (DISCUSSION)

The paper deals with the nature of intelligence related to the existential and spiritual dimension of individuals. Authors' considerations are introduced by a review of approach to intelligence in the spiritual area postulated by H. Gardner who suggests it be included under the designation existential intelligence. They further outline relations between spirituality and thinking and review the most commonly known theories of spiritual intelligence. They also point out a lack of empirical investigation in this area and discuss possible measurements of spiritual intelligence through specific subscales of spirituality measures. To conceptualize existential intelligence, the authors start from existential thinking in psychology. As meaning in life is a central concept of existential psychology, they suggest that existential intelligence could be understood as an ability to find and realize adequate life meaning. In the conclusion, they argue for an understanding of spiritual and existential intelligence as non-identical, however, mutually related and overlapping constructs.