Integral Theory

Integral Theory is a philosophy promoted by Ken Wilber that seeks a synthesis of the best of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern reality. It is portrayed as a "theory of everything," and offers an approach "to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching." It has been applied by scholar-practitioners in 35 distinct academic and professional domains as varied as organizational management, art, and feminism.

It initially started as a theoretical transpersonal psychology that attempted to synthesize Western and non-Western understandings of consciousness with notions of biological, mental, and divine evolution. Wilber has since distanced himself from transpersonal psychology and Integral Theory has turned into an emerging field of academic discourse and research focused on the complex interactions of ontology, epistemology, and methodology. However, there is ongoing discussion surrounding its standing in academia.

Integral Theory has been applied in a variety of different domains: Integral Art, Integral Ecology, Integral Economics, Integral Politics, Integral Psychology, Integral Spirituality, and many others. Researchers have also developed applications in areas such as leadership, coaching, and organization development. The first interdisciplinary academic conference on Integral Theory took place in 2008. SUNY Press currently publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of Integral Theory and Practice and has also published four books in the "SUNY series in Integral Theory."

Read more about Integral Theory:  Methodologies, Integral Theory, AQAL Theory – Lines., Contemporary Figures, Reception in Mainstream Academia

Famous quotes containing the words integral and/or theory:

    Self-centeredness is a natural outgrowth of one of the toddler’s major concerns: What is me and what is mine...? This is why most toddlers are incapable of sharing ... to a toddler, what’s his is what he can get his hands on.... When something is taken away from him, he feels as though a piece of him—an integral piece—is being torn from him.
    Lawrence Balter (20th century)

    The theory [before the twentieth century] ... was that all the jobs in the world belonged by right to men, and that only men were by nature entitled to wages. If a woman earned money, outside domestic service, it was because some misfortune had deprived her of masculine protection.
    Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)