Developmental Politics – Table of Contents
Table of Contents
PART I: TOWARD A POLITICS OF CULTURE
Chapter 1: America’s Existential Dilemma
Competition Between Alternative Moral Systems
A New Politics of Culture
Worldviews—the Basic Units of Culture
Chapter 2: The Momentous Emergence of the Modernist Worldview
The Standard Narrative of Modernity’s Emergence
Modernism and Traditionalism
Modernity’s New Cultural Opponent: The Progressive Postmodern Worldview
Modernity Came About Primarily as a Result of the Emergence of New Values
Modernity Depends on the Borrowed Social Capital of Traditionalism
The Developmental Logic of Cultural Evolution
Chapter 3: Tracing the Development of the Progressive Postmodern Worldview
The Revolt of Modernity’s Artists and Intellectuals: 1848 to 1968
Postmodernity Is Born as a Distinct Worldview
Postmodernism Is Founded on a New Communitarian Ethos of Sensitivity
Postmodernism Is Both a Blessing and a Curse for Our Civilization
Chapter 4: Reaching Political Agreement Through Values Integration
Conventional Proposals for Reaching Political Agreement
Focusing on the Bedrock Values at the Heart of Our Political Disagreements
Values Integration: Preliminary Considerations
Developmental Politics’ Values Charts—Foundations of Its Integrative Method
Polarity Theory—an Introduction
Examples of Values Integration in Action
The Method’s Secret Sauce: Integral Consciousness
Values Integration: Some Final Considerations
PART II: TOWARD A NEW POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF PURPOSE AND PROGRESS
Chapter 5: Evolving Our Understanding of the Good
The New Truth: Consciousness Evolves
In Search of an Understanding of Noosphere Energy
Reconceiving Value as a Form of Interior Energy
Chapter 6: Harnessing the Energy of Value
Value Enters the Universe with the Emergence of Life
Human Consciousness is Attracted by an Ever-Expanding Dimension of Value
Self-Interest and Greater-Than-Self-Interest Cohere as an Interdependent Polarity
The Political Significance of Transcendence
Chapter 7: Cultivating Cultural Evolution Through a New American Dream
Transcendence and the Structure of Evolutionary Emergence
Goodness, Truth, and Beauty—Traces of the Transcendent Within the Immanent
Discovering a New American Dream
Strategies for Cultivating Cultural Evolution
Chapter 8: A Renaissance of Virtue
The Energetic Properties of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty Revisited
Discovering a Natural System of Virtues
The Obligations of Virtue
Virtues and Transcendence
How the Practice of the Virtues Can Ameliorate America’s Political Problems
Chapter 9: A Transcendent Vision of Progress
The Problem with Progress
Progress and Transcendence
Dangers of Transcendence
Toward a Universal Definition of Progress
Making Progress Beyond Hyperpolarization
Appreciating Each Form of Culture’s Unique Connection with Transcendence
Connecting Our Political Progress to the Cosmic Progress of Evolution
Appendix A: On the Ontological Status of Worldviews
Appendix B: An Exercise for Practicing Virtues: Creating a Personal Portrait of the Good
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
