If it is true that the challenges facing civilization
today are forcing us to re-examine our values and priorities at a profound
level, now more than ever, we must also re-evaluate our skills and ask ourselves
what we will need to face a future that we ourselves have cast a shadow over.
In his book Five Minds for the Future, psychologist Howard Gardner asks what
aptitudes and qualities we must cultivate to meet the current global crisis.
In the contemporary social landscape, his conclusions are surprising.
Intelligence can no longer be understood in terms of IQ or mental agility, but
more in terms of human capabilities. He has chosen five that he believes are key
to a successful transition through unstable times: discipline, a synthesizing
mind, creativity, respect and ethics. These virtues are not new; they have
always served as a foundation for character formation in traditional societies.
Reviving these timeless values, some of which seem to have been rejected long
ago by our culture, is essential today for the survival of humanity. But again,
we must ask ourselves how we can bring these qualities out in individuals when
the way in which our society transmits knowledge does not reflect them.
On the contrary, the temporal values of modern society continue to give
precedence to an accumulation of intellectual knowledge instead of encouraging
individuals to develop the art of thinking for themselves. Intelligence is
measured as an ability to absorb quantities of data that are then, for example,
regurgitated under pressure in an exam.
The growing phenomenon of “smart drugs” (Ritalin, Alertec, etc.) among
university students and professionals, the subject of a recent report in a
Quebec magazine, is an example of this. We are thus quite a long way from
stimulating the forms of intelligence we will need in the future.
These virtues have nonetheless been developed by humanity in all schools of
philosophy in the classical manner, which aim to train happy, fulfilled
individuals who are masters of themselves, creative and thus able to assume
responsibilities within the city and contribute to social harmony and peace.
This is how character is developed. We would no longer try to resolve our
problems by accumulating knowledge or by developing new technologies or
techniques, but rather by fostering the ability to embody a quality of being.
