Developmental Politics – Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface

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

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