Spelling out integral economics: The Full Spectrum project
Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, vol. 5, n° 3 (2010), pp. 174-192
This paper goes in tandem with the other one, "Constructing an Integral economic science: Opportunities and... more This paper goes in tandem with the other one, "Constructing an Integral economic science: Opportunities and challenges", which I published in the same journal in 2008 (see below). Together, both articles offer a new approach to economics based on the so-called "integral" approach of US philosopher Ken Wilber. They champion a methodology of combining different perspectives: the exterior of individuals, the exterior of collectives, the interior of individuals, and the interior of collectives. This allows the discipline of economics to be opened up to surprising new dimensions which the standard positivism (which pervades even front-line mainstream approaches such as complexity and behavioral economics) systematically neglects: the interior dimensions of phenomena, as experienced by individuals and -- yes -- also by collectives (the collective's experience of itself is called culture). Language becomes an essential part of economic interactions, and economists themselves need -- as part and parcel of their scientific endeavor -- to ask questions about their own motivations and emotions. Economics as a result becomes perhaps less easy to treat in purely formal terms, but it also becomes a much more deeply relevant discipline.