Christian Arnsperger, Ph.D. Economics, is Senior Research Fellow with the Belgian National Science Foundation and talented author of Full Spectrum Economics: Toward and Inclusive and Emancipatory Social Science, London: Routledge, 2010. He wrote that “It is a pleasure and an honor for me to have this opportunity to discuss my ideas on Integral Economics, alongside the highly promising advances offered in this issue by Kevin Bowman” (Arnsperger, 2010, p. 175).

In an editorial introduction, Harris Friedman and Glenn Hartelius (2009) wrote, of my ‘Holarchical Development’ article, that “Bowman thoughtfully reconsiders some of the many implications of Ken Wilber’s All Quadrants All Levels (AQAL) theory, attending to some of its problems and suggesting some important extensions to this approach.” “Bowman’s applications of Wilber’s work show the vital importance of transpersonal theory for understanding some of the most pressing problems of our time.”

Ken Wilber is integral philosophy’s most influential theorist. Robert Kegan, a leading developmental psychologist at Harvard University, has called Wilber a “national treasure” (back cover of Wilber, 2000). In a recorded article review call, Ken Wilber, as editor-in-chief of The Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, called my integral neoclassical economic growth model “an economic version of [Wilber’s] prime directive,” which “makes economics all of a sudden a moral and spiritual endeavor” (Wilber and Bowman, 2010, 20 to 22 minutes in). He also called my reconciliation of sophisticated liberal, conservative, and radical views in my ‘Integral Political Economy’ as “one of the most important places to begin” (Wilber and Bowman, 2010, 61 to 62 minutes in). In reviewing my ‘Integral Scientific Pluralism,’ article, Wilber stated that it is “interesting, worthwhile, and exiting” while congratulating me for “advancing the field” (Wilber and Bowman, 2012).

A leading integral theorist, Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, Executive Editor of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice and CEO of Metaintegral Foundation, wrote in his Executive Editor’s Introduction (Esbjorn-Hargens, 2010) that my ‘Integral Neoclassical Economic Growth’ article, along with Arnsperger (2008), “arguably launched the field of Integral Economics.” Of my 2010 work, Sean characterized the ‘Integral Political Economy’ paper as “inspiring,” “making a number of contributions to integral discourse” (Esbjorn-Hargens, 2010). There he also wrote that Bowman, in my ‘Financial Crisis’ article, “does an amazing job of demonstrating the power of integral analysis…providing all integral scholar-practitioners with a valuable reference point of how to be creative with the distinctions within Integral Theory and to use them to address the war of partial perspectives that so often characterizes our disciplines.” The 2010 JITP issue containing articles by Arnsperger and myself “established Integral economics as a serious field of integral applications on par with some of the more established fields.” “Bowman is skillful in demonstrating how his integral distinctions operate in the real world” (Esbjorn-Hargens, 2011). The ideas in my integral scientific pluralism article “do heavy theoretical lifting and carve out new territory for Integral Theory…(with) many interesting implications for Integral Research.” “Personally, I cannot wait to see where Bowman takes us next” (Esbjorn-Hargens, 2012).

References

Arnsperger, C. (2010). Spelling out integral economic science: The full-spectrum project. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice 5(3): 175-193.

Esbjorn-Hargens (2010). Executive Editor’s introduction. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3): v-viii.

Esbjorn-Hargens (2011). Executive Editor’s introduction. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 6(2): v-x.

Esbjorn-Hargens (2012). Executive Editor’s introduction. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 7(1): v-x.

Friedman, H. and Hartelius, G. (2009). Editors' introduction. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28(1): iii-iv.

Wilber, K. and Bowman, K. (2010). “Article review call for ‘integral political economy’ and ‘the Financial Crisis of 2001-09: An integral political-economic analysis’.” Recorded March 30, 2010.

Wilber, K. and Bowman, K. (2012). “Article review call for ‘integral scientific pluralism.’ Recorded February 7, 2012.