What is existential intelligence?

Existential intelligence is the capacity to raise and reflect on the biggest questions of human life — why we exist, what death means, what makes a life meaningful, how love and evil fit into the world. Howard Gardner proposed it as a possible ninth intelligence in his theory of multiple intelligences, but he has never formally added it to the list.

Is existential intelligence the 9th intelligence?

It is the candidate ninth, not an accepted one. Gardner began considering it in the mid-1990s and discussed it in Intelligence Reframed (1999), but in 2020 he described it as still in limbo, and in 2022 he wrote that he had only considered it informally. That is why some sources list eight intelligences and others nine.

What are examples of existential intelligence?

Typical examples are asking why anything exists, what happens after death or whether life has a purpose, staying with such a question rather than dropping it, and comparing how philosophies and religions answer it. Gardner notes that nearly every child asks questions like these, though most children are more interested in asking than in weighing possible answers. These examples illustrate the idea; they are not a test.

Is existential intelligence the same as spiritual intelligence?

No, not in Gardner's account. He says existential intelligence is not in itself a religious or spiritual capacity: the big questions can include religious ones, but they need not. In 2000 he published a paper titled “A Case Against Spiritual Intelligence”, in a journal issue where psychologists Robert Emmons and John Mayer debated whether spirituality can count as an intelligence at all.

Is there a test for existential intelligence?

There is no validated one. Gardner wrote in 2020 that he offers no test, and the most direct study of his theory tested the other eight intelligences and left this one out. Online quizzes that score your “existential intelligence” are not measuring an established ability.

What careers suit existential intelligence?

Lists usually name philosopher, theologian, chaplain or pastor, writer, counsellor, and teacher of philosophy or religious studies. These are illustrations of work built around big questions, not research findings: with no test of existential intelligence, no study shows that people in these jobs have more of it.

Existential Intelligence: Meaning & Examples

Existential intelligence is the capacity to raise and reflect on the biggest questions of human life — why we exist, what death means, what makes a life meaningful. Howard Gardner proposed it as a possible ninth intelligence in his theory of multiple intelligences, which is why it is often called “the ninth intelligence”. But it is a candidate, not a member: Gardner has never formally admitted it, there is no test for it, and his reasons for holding back are the most useful thing to know about it.

Where the idea comes from

Gardner set out seven intelligences in Frames of Mind (1983). About a dozen years later he began to speculate about a ninth, existential intelligence, and in Intelligence Reframed (1999) he added the naturalist as an eighth while leaving existential intelligence as a possibility. He describes it as the capacity to raise and ponder “big questions” — about love and evil, life and death, and the nature of existence itself.

The full list, and how the count of eight or nine came about, is in our guide to types of intelligence.

Signs and examples of existential intelligence

These illustrate the definition; they are not a diagnostic checklist:

Asking the ultimate questions. Why is there anything at all? What happens when we die? Does a life need a purpose to matter?
Staying with a question. Returning to a problem that has no settled answer instead of dropping it once it stops being easy.
Seeing the large frame. Placing an everyday event in the context of a whole life, a society or the history of the universe.
Comparing answers. Weighing how different philosophies, religions and sciences respond to the same question.

Gardner points out that nearly every child asks questions like these — “What is going to happen to me?” — but that most young people are more engaged in asking than in thinking through possible answers.

Why Gardner never added it

Gardner admits an intelligence by checking it against criteria he set himself, such as a basis in identifiable brain systems. In a 2020 essay he named three doubts about existential intelligence and said it remained “still in limbo”:

No clear brain basis. For other intelligences he could point to brain systems, often shown by people who lose one ability after brain damage while keeping the others. He was not sure such a basis exists for this one.
Possibly not universal. He asked whether the capacity is found in all societies or emerged only in the kind of reflective culture that followed Socrates.
Possibly not separate. It may be an amalgam of other intelligences — the linguistic, logical-mathematical and personal ones (intrapersonal and interpersonal) — rather than a capacity of its own.

In a 2022 note he added that existential intelligence “may well qualify” as a distinct form of intellect, but that he has only considered it informally. The same essay of 2020 linked a surge of public interest in the idea to the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people had more unstructured time to think about meaning and mortality.

Is it the same as spiritual intelligence?

Gardner says no. In his account existential intelligence is not in itself a religious, spiritual or sacred capacity: the big questions can include religious ones, but they need not, and he is not promoting any faith. The distinction has a history. In 2000 one issue of the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion debated it directly: psychologist Robert Emmons asked whether spirituality is an intelligence; Gardner replied with a paper titled “A Case Against Spiritual Intelligence”; and John Mayer, one of the originators of emotional intelligence, asked whether “spiritual consciousness” would be the better description. “Spiritual intelligence” as used in self-help books is a different idea from Gardner’s candidate.

Can it be measured?

Not with any validated test. Gardner wrote in 2020 that he offers no test of his own. The most direct test of his theory — a 2006 study by Beth Visser, Michael Ashton and Philip Vernon in the journal Intelligence — gave 200 adults two tests for each of the eight admitted intelligences and did not include this one. Quizzes online that rate your “existential intelligence” are therefore scoring answers to questions, not an established ability.

That also means there is no data on how existential intelligence relates to IQ. The one hint comes from Gardner’s third doubt: in Visser’s study both word tests and the logical reasoning test were strongly tied to general mental ability — the g factor. If existential intelligence is a blend of those abilities, it would not be independent of g; if it is a capacity of its own, nobody has yet shown it.

Is it really an intelligence?

Critics of the whole theory go further. Lynn Waterhouse’s 2006 review in Educational Psychologist concluded that multiple intelligences theory lacks adequate empirical support, a judgement Gardner disputes. For the existential candidate the question is sharper, because even its author has not been persuaded. A fair summary: the habit of asking deep questions is real and worth having; whether it is an intelligence, in Gardner’s sense or any psychometric sense, is unproven.

Careers that use it

Career lists usually name philosopher, theologian, chaplain or pastor, writer, counsellor, and teacher of philosophy or religious studies. Treat these as illustrations of work built around big questions. With no test of existential intelligence, no study shows that people in these jobs have more of it. For a structured look at work that fits you, try our career test.

How to develop it

Read philosophy and its arguments. Short classic texts on death, freedom and meaning give you other people’s best attempts to compare with your own.
Discuss rather than only ponder. Talking a question through with someone who disagrees tests your reasoning in a way private reflection does not.
Write it down. Putting a question and your current answer in writing shows where the answer is vague.

Thinking about death and meaning is a normal part of life. If such thoughts become persistent and distressing, that is worth raising with a doctor or a therapist.

What an IQ test measures here

An IQ test, including ours, measures reasoning with patterns, numbers and words. It does not measure how deeply you think about meaning, mortality or the universe, and no score says anything about your philosophical depth.

Trust and scope notes

This page summarises published sources for general information. Gardner’s positions are reported from his own essays of 2020 and 2022; the 2000 journal exchange is described from its published titles; the 2006 study is reported as on our other pages about Gardner’s intelligences. Nothing on this page assesses mental health. The IQ Revealed test is an online reasoning test of 40 original items for adults aged 18 and over; it does not measure existential intelligence and is not a clinical assessment.

IQ Revealed is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Howard Gardner, MI Oasis or the other researchers, universities, journals and publications named on this page.

Existential Intelligence: Meaning, Examples and Why It Is Still a Candidate