On his book A Synthesizing Mind: A Memoir from the Creator of Multiple Intelligences Theory
Cover Interview of February 03, 2021
Lastly
I believe that my book will initially draw three groups of
readers: 1) those interested in my own history (largely family members and
friends, perhaps colleagues and former students); 2) those who want to know
more about the origins of MI theory, its principal claims, the diverse reactions to it,
and how it has been followed up in the last three-plus decades; 3) those who
are intrigued by the phrase ‘synthesizing mind’—the latter readers can learn
what it is, how it is developed, how it can be educated and enhanced, and,
if possible, how to strengthen one’s own synthesizing powers.
Though not intended primarily as such, the book also
contains insights about what it was like to grow up in a ‘depressed area’
(northeastern Pennsylvania, once thriving because of anthracite coal) in the
middle of the twentieth century—merely a mile away from my agemate young Joe
Biden; to have inspiring teachers and mentors, as well as a smattering of anti-mentors
and tormentors, and how one person succeeded in navigating a life in
scholarship without following the usual career pathways within the usual scholarly
departments.
To my surprise and pleasure, some early readers, reviewers,
and interviewers have also found encouragement and even inspiration from
aspects of my biography: especially my overcoming some personal and some
physical handicaps; surviving a graduate training which was not pleasurable and
sometimes quite punitive; being more of a book writer than an author of peer-reviewed,
empirical studies; being able to go beyond—not becoming a slave to—what one is
best known for, in my case ‘MI theory’.
I am not sure that I would advise anyone to do exactly what
I did; but I firmly believe that if you have some talent, a strong will, and
can negotiate setbacks, you can survive and perhaps even thrive in a variety of
environments. I have long been inspired by the words of French economist and
political visionary Jean Monnet: “I regard every defeat as an opportunity.”
Also, because I have studied and written about an unusually
large number of topics, the book has given me the opportunity not only to
discover links among these seemingly disparate subjects, but also to tie
together this ‘network of enterprise’—this ‘through line’, as it were—in ways
that make sense to me and, I hope, to others as well. And, going forward, I may
be in a better position to understand what I do, how I do it, what may come
next and why, and what may come after that.
Most important to me, I hope to be able to put ‘synthesizing’
on the map: why it is important, more today than ever before; why it has been
relatively neglected by researchers; how it occupies an important, indeed
invaluable niche, between journalism, on the one hand, and standard
experimental social science on the other; how it might be nurtured by teachers,
mentors, parents, on the one hand, and how we ourselves may sharpen our
synthesizing capacities, to our own benefit and, if we are successful and
strategic, to the benefit of those who encounter us and/or our work. Also,
while some synthesizing can and should be done by computational devices and
programs, the most important acts of selection and of action are and should
remain distinctly human endeavors.
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
Lastly
I believe that my book will initially draw three groups of readers: 1) those interested in my own history (largely family members and friends, perhaps colleagues and former students); 2) those who want to know more about the origins of MI theory, its principal claims, the diverse reactions to it, and how it has been followed up in the last three-plus decades; 3) those who are intrigued by the phrase ‘synthesizing mind’—the latter readers can learn what it is, how it is developed, how it can be educated and enhanced, and, if possible, how to strengthen one’s own synthesizing powers.
Though not intended primarily as such, the book also contains insights about what it was like to grow up in a ‘depressed area’ (northeastern Pennsylvania, once thriving because of anthracite coal) in the middle of the twentieth century—merely a mile away from my agemate young Joe Biden; to have inspiring teachers and mentors, as well as a smattering of anti-mentors and tormentors, and how one person succeeded in navigating a life in scholarship without following the usual career pathways within the usual scholarly departments.
To my surprise and pleasure, some early readers, reviewers, and interviewers have also found encouragement and even inspiration from aspects of my biography: especially my overcoming some personal and some physical handicaps; surviving a graduate training which was not pleasurable and sometimes quite punitive; being more of a book writer than an author of peer-reviewed, empirical studies; being able to go beyond—not becoming a slave to—what one is best known for, in my case ‘MI theory’.
I am not sure that I would advise anyone to do exactly what I did; but I firmly believe that if you have some talent, a strong will, and can negotiate setbacks, you can survive and perhaps even thrive in a variety of environments. I have long been inspired by the words of French economist and political visionary Jean Monnet: “I regard every defeat as an opportunity.”
Also, because I have studied and written about an unusually large number of topics, the book has given me the opportunity not only to discover links among these seemingly disparate subjects, but also to tie together this ‘network of enterprise’—this ‘through line’, as it were—in ways that make sense to me and, I hope, to others as well. And, going forward, I may be in a better position to understand what I do, how I do it, what may come next and why, and what may come after that.
Most important to me, I hope to be able to put ‘synthesizing’ on the map: why it is important, more today than ever before; why it has been relatively neglected by researchers; how it occupies an important, indeed invaluable niche, between journalism, on the one hand, and standard experimental social science on the other; how it might be nurtured by teachers, mentors, parents, on the one hand, and how we ourselves may sharpen our synthesizing capacities, to our own benefit and, if we are successful and strategic, to the benefit of those who encounter us and/or our work. Also, while some synthesizing can and should be done by computational devices and programs, the most important acts of selection and of action are and should remain distinctly human endeavors.