There are many ways to categorize our amazing intellect. There’s emotional intelligence, social intelligence, spiritual intelligence and so much more. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences is often cited, which comprised of the following:

1. Visual-spatial
2. Linguistic-verbal
3. Logical-mathematical
4. Body-kinesthetic
5. Musical
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalistic

According to #Aristotle, there are five intellectual virtues:

1. SOPHIA: Theoretical wisdom
2. PHRONESIS: Practical wisdom
3. EPISTEME: Science
4. TECHNE: Technique and technology
5. NOUS: Intuition

SOPHIA and PHRONESIS are the two faces of wisdom and are concerned about morality, ethics, and goodness. However, SOPHIA is built upon EPISTEME, while PHRONESIS is on both TECHNE and NOUS.

What this means is that we need not only science to live a fruitful life but alongside our intuition and technical skills. But these three are also not enough. Ethics and morality need to be infused in all of our intellectual capabilities in order to live a great life. Hence, the need to develop all five intellectual virtues to achieve true happiness!

There are specific activities that can help develop particular virtues. However, doing a specific activity may also contribute to developing multiple virtues:

1. SOPHIA: Read  philosophical and historical books
2. PHRONESIS: Practice prudence when making decisions
3. EPISTEME: Read a wide range of scientific materials
4. TECHNE: Master various techniques
5. NOUS: Practice meditation.

See if you can identify which areas you need to develop.

Through our heart-centered life coaching approach, we will identify which intellectual virtues need to be developed further in order to achieve the coachee’s personal/professional goals. You can schedule a free consultation with us to find out more.