For anyone interested in a more "integral" integral theory, the inclusion of Lev Vygotsky (and here) and Rom Harre (and I would include Jerome Bruner, as well as the often overlooked John Dewey) are crucial in my opinion.
Rom Harre (and Bruner, for that matter) is of special interest to me - he seems integral way before Wilber was (Edwards points this out, too, including Harre's quadrant model that preceded and is very similar to Wilber's), but he is virtually unknown outside of small circles. His obscurity is frustrating and unwarranted.
Here are a couple of online articles - there is not much available unless you buy his books:
The rediscovery of the human mind - Rom HarréAnyway, here are a couple of long passages that I hope will inspire a reading of the whole article, all three parts.
Social Construction and Consciousness - Rom Harré
So, to my thinking Wilber is right to place great importance on Piaget's model and to incorporate many of its key findings into the Integral framework. However, there is another and very different aspect of Wilber's use of Piaget's theory that is, for me, problematic. This aspect has never been raised previously (except in some of my scribblings on the Visser site) and relates directly to the issue of how exteriors and interiors are currently represented in Integral Theory. This problematic issue is not that Wilber uses Piagetian ideas extensively to both summarise and inform his views on development, it's that he never refers to that school of human development that poses the major theoretical alternative to Piaget, the neo-Piagetians and all developmental theorists who take an constructivist and individualist approach to development. That school was founded by the other great developmental psychologist of the early twentieth century – Lev Vygotsky.
Before looking at this issue in more detail I want to make it clear that it is overly simplistic to propose that Piaget takes an interior and individualist approach to human development, just as it is to say that Vygotsky takes a exterior and collectivist approach. Both of these great pioneers recognised the complementary nature of cognition and social context. That being said there is no doubt that the two saw development in different terms. Piaget saw it to be the result of maturational processes that impact on our capacity to know, understand and imagine. Vygotsky saw development much more as the result of socio-historical mediation of meaning from social context to personal realisation. As Vygotsky's oft quoted statement of the "genetic law" puts it.
"Any function in the child's cultural development appears twice, or on two planes. First it appears between people as an inter-psychological category, and then within the child as an intra-psychological category. This is equally true with regard to voluntary attention, logical memory, the formation of concepts and the development of volition. We may consider this position as a law in the full sense of the word." (Vygotsky cited in Wertsch 1985, p.61)Both Vygotsky and Piaget knew that development is complex, that it involves the inside and the outside of existence and that it requires both individual transformation and collective emergence. But when one reads the works of these two theorists one can't help but be struck by the very different explanatory orientations that they each had in their research and their theoretical propositions. The point that concerns me here is that while Ken has incorporated the Piagetian approach into his model, he hasn't fully accommodated within the integral framework the insights from the Vygotskian tradition of developmental studies. This oversight impacts considerably on the way Integral Theory is currently used to treat the exterior aspects of topics such as politics, ecology, community development, education and spiritual development.
Piaget and Vygotsky
Vygotsky and Piaget were both born in the year 1896. Piaget was a child prodigy and had a great interest as a child in biology and his first published papers were on the biology of molluscs! Piaget's doctorate was done in the area of natural science. Vygotsky was also recognised early on as a gifted student but his early studies focused on literature and philosophy. His doctorate was in law. I find it quite interesting that Wilber, quite rightfully, affirms Piaget as one of the great "structuralists of the interior" when Piaget came from, and always saw himself, in the tradition of empirical observation, measurement and scientific rigour. Piaget's view on method was essentially empirical. He said that, "the progress of knowledge is the work of an inseparable union between experiment and deduction" (1972, p. 62). In contrast to Piaget's background, Vygotsky immersed himself in the study of the humanities and the arts from a very early age. In school and university he was a connoisseur of poetry and philosophy, and wrote his first major works on Hamlet, the study of consciousness and the psychology of art. So we have Piaget, the great "structuralist of the interior", coming from a observational and empirical base and, Vygotsky, the social theorist of the exteriors coming from a dialogical interpretive background.
Piaget has often been characterised as proposing a model of development that works for the "inside out" and Vygotsky a model that operates from "the outside in". While this view is more of a caricature than a true summary of the two theories, obviously Piaget was more individualist and cognitivist in his understanding of human development while Vygotsky was very much more social and activity focused. Although both Vygotsky and Piaget are regarded as seminal figures in the history of contemporary developmental psychology, there is no mention at all of Vygotsky or his colleagues in any of Wilber's writings (this will not be the last time I point out this quite unbelievable fact – speaking as I am from the viewpoint of a developmental psychologist). This is really quite astounding given that Vygotsky is one of the great developmental psychologists of the 20th century and that he founded one of the most important schools of developmental studies of modern times. So, why this resounding silence on one of the world's greatest developmental psychologists and on the various schools of development that have sprung up in his wake? Well, it's probably just an oversight. But this omission leaves a considerable hole in Integral Theory's understanding of the exteriors and the part they play in development. At the very least it leaves the model very much reliant on Piagetian developmental principles and somewhat neglectful of cultural-historical ones.
Ken Wilber has always regarded the cognitive development model of Jean Piaget's as the pre-eminent example of human development. He regards Piaget's system as "one of a handful of truly great contributions to psychology (and philosophy and religion)", (1995, p.209). Wilber rightfully recognises Piaget's research studies as, "pivotal" and as, "a stunning accomplishment, certainly one of the most significant psychological investigations of this century". Although Wilber does not endorse all of Piaget's theoretical constructs, it is clear that he has fully incorporated several core aspects of Piaget's genetic epistemology. These include, i) Integral theory's conception of structural levels, stages or waves of development, ii) the description of those basic structures at least up to, and including, normative development, iii) ideas such as assimilation (translation), accommodation (transformation) and equilibrium (non-equivalent integration), and, iv) Integral theory's focus on the interior of the individual as the structural genesis and source of transformation in development. Each of these aspects of development has seen it's fair share of debate over the years, and Wilber has often considered the evidence concerning the first points. It is the third issue, that of the role of interiors and exteriors, of individuals and collectives, of development and learning that I will focus on in the following.
The importance that Wilber places on the Piagetian model of growth can be seen from the fact that its basic elements are described and referenced in every one of Wilber's major books on human growth starting with, "The Spectrum of Consciousness" in 1976 and continuing through every major book up to and including "Boomeritis" in 2002. There are literally hundreds of references in Wilber's books to the works of Piaget and many pages of discussions about his theoretical concepts and the cross-cultural evidence that supports them. Ken sees Piaget as "the first constructivist developmental view of the world" (Excerpt D, ¶ 233) and as "the first great evolutionary or developmental structuralist" (Excerpt D, ¶ 231). In addition, particularly since 1995, there is the substantial presence and influence of the post-Piagetian and post-formal reasoning theorists in Wilber's writings. When these are added to the volume of direct references, one can begin to see the significance importance of Piagetian and neo-Piagetian ideas for the explication of Wilber's Integral philosophy.
My objective in pointing this out is not to call into question Piaget's genius or contribution to developmental studies, or to be critical of Wilber's treatment and application of Piagetian ideas. I simply wish to draw attention to the importance that Wilber places on western European and American models of development, as exemplified in the Piagetian approach. A traditions that sees development generated by the active engagement of individuals and which results in interior structural transformations. Of course, Piaget is not the only developmental theorist who takes this perspective in the explanation of human growth. That development is the result of the rearrangement of internal schemas, moralities, cognitive structures, and mental capacities is a view that is shared by many theorists and is an assumptions that underpin most of the theories that come under the banner of developmental psychology. Freud, Loevinger, Kohlberg, Mahler, Graves, Kegan, Commons, Alexander and many other major figures in developmental psychology also belong to this tradition. But there are other traditions that no not come from this individualist-interiorist-constructivist perspective and these schools of human development do not hold these assumptions about the source of developmental change. More to the point, the distinctive viewpoints of these alternative models have, unfortunately, not been fully integrated within the set of explanatory principles that Integral Theory draws on. In contrast to the prominence in Wilber's writing granted to Piaget and co, there is a relatiove lack of reference to, and application of models that take an exterior-centric perspective. These include the very well-known and well-researched cultural-historical and activity theory (CHAT) approaches.
The CHAT models of human development have been active in Russia and Europe for at least 50 years and in America since the 1970's, however, their most eminent theorist, Lev Vygotsky, is not referenced in any of Wilber's writings. This omission is not because Vygotsky is some minor player in the developmental field. On the contrary, he is recognised as one of the most important and influential of all developmental theorists. In recent decades the developmental ideas of Lev Vygotsky have initiated a renewed interest in the West in socio-cultural and activity-oriented theories of individual and collective development. Indeed, Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory is currently regarded by many as one of the most widely applied all developmental models (although Vygotsky died in 1934, his major works have only been available in English since the 1960's). Vygotsky is one of the most influential developmental theorists in educational psychology and neo-Vygotskian ideas are very prominent in fields as diverse as situational learning, social theories of development, the psychology of art, the social construction of knowledge, and language acquisition (Wertsch, del Rio & Alvarez, 1995).
Given that the neo-Vygotskian school is one of the major approaches in developmental psychology of contemporary times, it's theorems and propositions and findings must be considered by and, where necessary, integrated within the Integral Theory framework. This task is crucial for the ongoing development of Integral Theory and will undoubtedly open up valuable new methodologies and insights for the theory as a whole. It may even mean that some aspects of the current understanding of Integral Theory will need to be revised. I, for one, believe that this will be the case. For example, as I pointed out in the first part of this series of essays, Integral Theory's current understanding of the exteriors quadrants is significantly flawed and Vygotskian ideas have much to offer in this area. Yet, as I mentioned earlier, there are no references at all to Vygotsky's large and important body of work on human development in any of Wilber's works. Any conceptual model that claims to be integrative and based on a systematic examination of all major developmental approaches must include the Vygotskian perspective or else fall far short of those goals. In the following I hope to take some initial steps in pointing out the additional explanatory value that the exterior-focused approaches, such as Vygotskian cultural-historical approaches, hold for Integral theory.
Read the whole article.Rom Harre and Personal Being
Like Vygotsky, Harre sees the source of individual and collective consciousness not in the evolving interior structures of image, symbols, concepts and theories but in the social systems of hierarchical activity and scaffolding that surround, support, encourage each and all to the degree that they can experience and participate. Harre's book "Personal Being" is a fascinating read for any integralist who is familiar with Wilber's "Sex Ecology Spirituality. It predates Wilber's first exposition of the AQAL model by 10 years and yet it proposes many of the same insights in terms of the basic dimension of personal and public identity. In this book Harre puts forward the thesis that personal being has a social origin. For Harre consciousness and the "intimate structures of our personal being" derive from social entities.
"Everything that appears to each us in the intimate structure of our personal being, I believe to have its source in a socially sustained and collectively imposed cluster of theories." (Harre, 1984, p.21)In this Harre is following the lead of Vygotsky. He is wanting to promote the inherent and deeply developmental capacities of the exteriors and show how they can inculcate individual bodies and minds with consciousness, reflexivity and intention.
"each level of sophistication of public-collective activity in which a developing person joins is prepared for, not by a maturing natural endowment, but by the previous level of that interpersonal, public, and collective activity." (Harre, 1984, p.22)For Harre personal identity is not a bootstrapping affair where the interior structures of the individual somehow create themselves out of self-regulatory processes. Personal identity is the direct result of the developmental nature of the social world.
"Personal being arises only by transformation in the social inheritance of individuals." (Harre, 1984, p.23)Harre argues that individual consciousness is the result of social learning processes as much as innate potentialities. Here Harre's idea of appropriation fills the same developmental function as Vygotsky's mediation theory.
We learn to conceive of ourselves as personal beings by the appropriation of the concept of social being from our public-collective activities for the purposes of organising our experience as the mental life of a self-conscious agent. (Harre, 1984, p.108)For both Harre and Vygotsky, language development is really the crucial territory to be explained in human development. Both of them saw language as moving from the exterior to the interior and that the ego-centric speech of the infant is a stepping stone in that exterior-to-interior progression. The genetic, organic and biological necessities must be present, of course, but they are not sufficient for the development of language, mature thought and stable self-identity (as the studies of feral and isolated children have shown). In this sense cognitive development comes out of the social world of language and gesture and not out of the self-generated emergence of cognitive structures. Social realms draw out the intention and the meaning through the basic processes of social learning.
Here is a simple example of this. A baby moves its arm and says "Ug". The mother deliberately interprets this as the indication of a want. "Oh so you want this toy do you? Here it is." The baby finds an item of play in its possession. This happens several times. The baby builds up a leaning string that connects gesture/grunt with getting hold of a desired object. This is generalised in other social situations. The learning string now starts to accumulate direct communicative meaning. Meaning through gesture/grunt gets internalised and forms the subjective locus of conscious intent. And so we have meaning and consciousness moving from the social exterior to the individual interior. This is why Harre says,
Learning is just the privatisation of features of public collective episodes of mutual engagement, and many individual cognitive processes are much what Plato and Vygotsky thought they were – sotte voce speech – inaudible self talk. The fact that talk displays cognitive properties is a collective not an individual fact. (Harre, 1984, p.137)It is interesting to note that Harre proposes a model that corresponds almost exactly with Wilber's quadrants framework. His model includes an individual-collective-dimension, a public-private (interior-exterior) dimension and includes an active-passive (agency-communion) dimension. And yet armed with this very similar framework for relating interiors to exteriors and individuals to collectives Harre comes to almost the exact opposite view of the Right Hand quadrants as Wilber. Harre for example concludes that (1984, p. 137),
learning is just the privatisation of features of the public-collective [social quadrant] episodes of mutual engagement, and many individual collective processes are much what Plato and Vygotsky thought they were, sotto voce speech. The fact that talk displays cognitive properties is a collective not an individual fact.So we have a model that is based on a four-quadrants understanding of personal reality and yet it sees the exterior quadrants as the source of development and not the interiors. Harre goes so far as to say that (1984, p. 23),
Personal being arises only by a transformation in the social inheritance of individuals.Moreover, this "social inheritance" comes from exterior, public and collective domains that are qualitatively developmental in nature (1984, p.22).
each level of sophistication of public-collective activity in which a developing person joins is prepared for, not by a maturing natural endowment, but by the previous levels of that interpersonal, public and collective activity.This is not a Piagetian view. This is a Vygotskian view. Out of this collective perspective on personal being Harre proposes social theories of personal consciousness, emotions, agency, morality and intentionality. These theories, which are representative of many other social theorists of development, are not represented within Integral theory as it is currently presented. As with Vygotsky, there are no references to any of Harre's works in any of Wilber's writings. The views of Rom Harre and other social philosophers is still to be integrated within the AQAL model and this will not happen until the exterior Right Hand behavioural and social quadrants are represented in a very different light.
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