Healthy societies depend on a level of disinterestedness in individuals, professional groups, and institutions. Societies that are seen to valorize disinterestedness to some degree often have healthier institutions than those that don't. In an age where we need to have an opinion on everything, we need to reclaim the power of disinterestedness, writes Howard Gardner.

Whether or not we happen to know the meaning of ‘disinterestedness', most of us have an intuition for the word, or — better — for the stance that it designates.