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Integral World: Exploring Theories of Everything
An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber

Excerpts Roadmap

Preview of parts of Wilber's
"Kosmic Karma and Creativity"
(Shambhala, date unknown)


I should also say that from now on—and certainly as evidenced in the following excerpts—I am writing only for students of my work. Every book written up to this point has made the assumption that the reader had no prior knowledge of any of my material. ... I am no longer doing so ... Henceforth, for the most part, my writing (including the following) assumes not just a passing familiarity but a working knowledge of the essentials of the AQAL matrix. ... For the same reason, I have ceased responding to critics and am devoting myself to working exclusively with individuals who understand the integral approach (and whose criticism from within is much more accurate and cogent).
--Ken Wilber, Excerpt A, Prologue (September 2002)

Table of Content


Excerpt A: AN INTEGRAL AGE AT THE LEADING EDGE

  • Introduction
  • Part I: KOSMIC KARMA - WHY IS THE PRESENT A LITTLE BIT LIKE THAT PAST?
  • Kosmic Karma in four dimensions
  • Summary of Part I

  • Part II: KOSMIC HABITS AS PROBABILITY WAVES
  • Prologue
  • Probability space in the AQAL matrix
  • Selection pressures in AQAL space: validity claims in tetra-mesh

  • Part III: THE NATURE OF REVOLUTIONARY/SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Base and superstructure must tetra-mesh
  • Paradigms
  • Legitimation crisis
  • Societal revolutions
  • The fifth factor
  • Eros and authenticity
  • Summary: Eros and revolution
  • The idea of progress
  • Summary

  • Part IV: FACTS AND INTERPRETATIONS
  • Overview: revolutionary integral pluralism
  • To enact a dimension of Being-in-the-world
  • Reconstructive inquiry
  • Facts-and-interpretations are intrinsic to the Kosmos
  • Interpretation in both senses
  • A simple analogy: the Grand Canyon
  • From partial to complete dialogical inheritance
  • Conclusion

  • Part V: INTEGRAL METHODOLOGICAL PLURALISM
  • Introduction
  • Upper-Right inquiry
  • Upper-Left inquiry
  • Lower-Right inquiry
  • Lower-Left inquiry
  • Integral Operating System (IOS)

  • Notes

Excerpt B: THE MANY WAYS WE TOUCH
Three Principles Helpful for Any Integrative Approach

  • Overview: An Integral Paradigm Is a Set of Practices, not Theories
  • Integral Methodological Pluralism
  • The Essence of Integral Metatheory: Everybody Is Right
  • The First Useful Principle: Nonexclusion
  • The Second Useful Principle: Unfoldment
  • The Third Useful Principle: Enactment
  • The Calculus of Uncomfort
  • An Integral Operating System (IOS)
  • Holonic Conferencing
  • Prospectus

Excerpt C: THE WAYS WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER

  • Part I: INTRODUCTION - Systems theory versus hermeneutics: why both are important
  • Overview
  • Primordial perspectives of Being-in-the-world
  • An integral calculus of primordial perspectives
  • Two major approaches to systems theory
  • What do "inside" and "outside" mean?
  • A Kosmos composed of perspectives
  • Some everyday examples
  • Insides and outsides of interiors
  • Where is ecological awareness?
  • Insides and outsides of exteriors
  • We's and It's
  • Summary

  • Part II: ZONE #1 - The insides of the interior
  • Overview
  • The insdie feel of the interiors
  • Singular: The insides of an "I"
  • Representative methodology: phenomenology
  • Integral math
  • Tele-prehension
  • Plural: The insides of a "We"
  • Individual (I/It) and collective (We/Its)
  • Two different types of parts and wholes
  • I and We in an ecosystem
  • Compound individuals and compound networks
  • Internal and external
  • Internal in the interior spaces
  • The I-boundary
  • Transcend-and-include
  • Summary of individual and collective

  • Part III: THE CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE OF HERMENEUTICS : What is a "We"?
  • A circle of friends
  • Nexus
  • The hermeneutic circle
  • Nexus-agency
  • Summary: membership
  • The demands of our togetherness
  • Compound We's

  • Part IV: THE NATURE OF HERMENEUTICS : One "I" understands another "I" only via a "We"
  • Overview
  • Solidarity
  • Vertical and horizontal solidarity
  • Solidarity: conclusion
  • Where perspectives end

Excerpt D. THE LOOK OF A FEELING:
The Importance of Post/Structuralism

  • Part I. Overview and Summary to Date
  • Integral Post-Metaphysics
  • Some Major Event Horizons or Zones

  • Part II. Entering ZONE #2: The Outsides of the Interior
  • Introduction
  • The Look of a Feeling
  • Representative Methodology of Zone #2: Adequate Structuralism
  • The Meaning of a Structure
  • Structuralism Compared with Systems Theory
  • To Kill Culture and Consciousness
  • Ecology Contrasted with Structuralism
  • Hermeneutics Contrasted with Structuralism
  • Heidegger and Foucault: Classic Zone #1 and Zone #2 Approaches
  • The Unfinished Project of Postmodernity

  • Part III. Examples of the Social Practice of Adequate Structuralism
  • Basic Steps in the Paradigm of Adequate Structuralism
  • Holism: The Great Gift of the Third-Person Indigenous Perspectives
  • Harmonic Resonance
  • Structures Inside and Out
  • Structures as Interior Holism
  • The Structure of a Song
  • The Original Structuralists
  • The Emancipatory Power of Structuralism

  • Part IV. Conclusions of Adequate Structuralism
  • Overview
  • A. Structure/Stages in Individuals
  • Developmental Lines or Streams of Consciousness
  • Developmental Levels or Waves of Consciousness
  • How Many Waves in the Ocean?
  • The Basic Levels or Waves of Consciousness
  • B. Structures in Groups
  • Horizontal Outlaws
  • Vertical Outlaws
  • Center of Gravity
  • Nihilation and Therapia
  • The Politics of Consciousness
  • Structural Integrity
  • C. Stages in Groups
  • Societal Streams
  • Cultural Streams and Social Streams
  • Social Streams and Artifacts
  • Consciousness Evolution and Artifacts
  • The Staggering Weight of the Social System
  • The End of Slavery
  • Excursis: Marxist Structuralism
  • The Sociograph
  • Uneven Societal Development
  • Let's See What She Thinks: A Final Word on Zone #2

Excerpt E: THE GATHERING OF THE ZONES

  • Part I: ZONES #3 AND #4: The Insides and Outsides of Exteriors
  • Autopoiesis and Systems Theory
  • The Important Distinctions Begin to Surface
  • Autopoiesis Is Not Prehension, Structural Coupling Is Not Solidarity
  • Integration of the 4 Zones
  • Typical Lower-Right Approaches

  • Part II: INTEGRAL SEMIOTICS
  • The Linguistic Turn
  • Syntax: Language from the Outside
  • Semantics: Language from the Inside
  • Habermas's Comprehensive Linguistics Connected to the Rest of the Kosmos
  • The Staggering Brilliance of the Evolutionary Paradigm
  • The Horns of the Postmodern Dilemma
  • Early Moves Toward Integral
  • On the Edge of Tomorrow's Synthesis: To Utter the Many Names of Spirit

Excerpt F: INTEGRAL POST-METAPHYSICS

  • A Brief History of Sensorimotor Conperceptions
  • From the Great Chain to Post-Postmodernism
  • What Is the Meaning of "Physical"?
  • What Is the Meaning of "Meta-Physical"?
  • What Is the Meaning of "Post-Metaphysical"?
  • Three Turns on the Road to Integral Post-Metaphysics
  • The Naturalistic Turn (Modernism)
  • The Linguistic Turn (Postmodernism)
  • The Integral Turn (Post-Postmodernism)
  • The AQAL Matrix in Today's World

Excerpt G: TOWARD A COMPREHENSIVE THEORY OF SUBTLE ENERGIES

  • Introduction
  • Part I. INTRODUCTION: From the Great Chain of Being to Postmodernism in Three Easy Steps
  • Overview
  • 1. Step One
  • The Problem
  • Suggested Solution
  • 2. Step Two
  • The Problem
  • Suggested Solution
  • 3. Step Three
  • The Problem
  • Suggested Solution
  • Part II. AN INTEGRAL THEORY OF SUBTLE ENERGIES
  • The Spectrum of Subtle Energies
  • Involution and Evolution
  • The Two Truths Doctrine
  • The Problem
  • Suggested solution
  • Summary of Quantum Realities
  • Part III. SOME SPECIFICS OF AN INTEGRAL THEORY OF SUBTLE ENERGIES
  • Refinements
  • A Refined Taxonomy of Subtle Energies
  • Reincarnation
  • The Chakras
  • Part IV. SOME COMPARISONS WITH OTHER THEORISTS



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