Ken Wilber

Author (~15 books), eastern philosopher, armchair cosmologist, self-proclaimed yogi. Called cartographer of all systems, all levels by his disciples.

Enjoys making up words and insisting upon them.

Starts out elitist, ends up egalitarian.

: Perhaps other than Kant and Hegel, no-one has presented a comparable comprehensive framework for integrating the 'three cultures' of science, morality, and art....
: More than any other individual, he has pieced together a truly remarkable map of the mind. -- ChristianDeQuincey? Who?

Bases a model of existence in "holons" which are simultaneously defined by their relations to other "holons" as they are by their individuality, and their enduring habits of transcending yet including as process of growth , they are composed of more basic "holons", or whole/parts.

Alacazam! Abraxis! Abracadabra! I hereby conjure yet another explanation of the world in touchy-feely non-empirical mumbo jumbo! If you only read 3,000 pages this year, make sure it's my book in which I'll demonstrate my ability to redefine language in terms of complete nonsense! Boogaboogabooga! That's a technical term ...

"Holons" exist simultaneously in the the four quadrants, or perspectives: I (individual, subjective experience, feelings, thoughts {Freud, Buddha}), WE (communal, Inter-subjective, cultural traits, morals {Joseph Cambell}) It (Individual, objective, physicality, empirical science {Behaviorism, Conrad Lorenze), and ITS (Collective, empirical systems science {Karl Marx}).

What about YOU (accusatory, opinions, appearances {De Cartes}) THEY (tribal, paranoid, miscegenated {Chomsky}), SHE (green, fertile, pragmatic {Darwin/Smith/Greer}), ON THE OTHER HAND (non-Aristotelean, open minded, non-zero-sum-game {Korzybski, Kelly, Leibniz}), and WHICHEVER WAY YOU SLICE IT, IT'S BALONEY ({Popeye})? But seriously, setting up a bunch of arbitrary distinctions and then defining a worldview in terms of them means nothing. If there were some kind of empirical predictive power in Wilber's holons, they might mean something. But there ain't, so they don't.

[Comment on the above paragraph: One of many truly clarifying insights I gained from reading Wilber's work is the role of empiricism. During my life I have swiched in and out of "believing in empiricism". Finally, I can now put it into its proper context, neither rejecting it, nor accepting it as the final arbiter of all questions.]

Being aware of the perspective from which I observe and define, makes any discussion more explicite and clear. It helps me to differentiate contributions into objective intended remarks, subjective reactions and to distinguish between a collective, general point of view or an individual standpoint. Neat Wilber trick. And very usefull in wiki.

Ken utilizes all of the available modes of inquiry to enact and engage all quadrants, all waves, all streams, all states, all types. What?

Best known for Sex Ecology and Spirituality, The Collected Works of Ken Wilber, $220 (cheap) (ISBN 1-57062-500-X )

Exits:

: His publisher: http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog and search for Author: Wilber, Ken
: His own site: http://wilber.shambhala.com
: His Deconstruction of the World Trade Center:
: http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/boomeritis/intro/intro.cfm/xid,5346061/yid,60440467
: http://www.worldofkenwilber.com/