AGILITY, METIC INTELLIGENCE, CRE-ACTIVITY, AND MINDFULNESS: FOUR CORNERSTONES FOR ADULT EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Starting from the development of agile methods in software engeneering projects, and first reflected in the so-called "agile manifesto" at the beginning of this century, agility as the name for an agile mindset which is of central importance in the development and use of all agile techniques has become popular beyond its original domain in the last years in almost every domain of professional adult education. It will be shown how the development of an agile mindsent can profit from the parallel development of three older relatives of agility: Metic intelligence - the form of intelligence considered as indispensable since Antiquity for wisdom as well as for cunning - which was rediscovered for local problem solving in quite different areas in the past decades. Cre-activity - the ability to catch and mould the "kairos", such that the right thing can be done at the right time by the right person in the right way, Mindfulness - especially in the form studied by the social psychogist Ellen J. Langer in the last decades with its characteristic components: openness to novelty, alertness to distinction, sensibility to different contexts, awareness of multiple perspectives and orientation in the present.

The relationships between these four embodied mental capacities and their importance for the adult education of problem solving typical for problems in professional fields and beyond in the 21st century will be discussed.