Integration
Claim This Podcastby Integration: The Journal of Big Picture Theory and Practice
Podcast Overview
<p>The Integration podcast features thinkers forging connections across domains, traditions, and levels of analysis in pursuit of deeper coherence and actionable wisdom. In particular, it unpacks and promotes the work of scholars contributing to Integration: The Journal of Big Picture Theory and Practice, a peer-reviewed, inter-, trans-, and archdisciplinary journal committed to advancing the integrative study and applied use of metatheory and systems thinking for engaging with the unprecedented complexity of the 21st century. It also features scholars whose work is making vital contributions to this broader field.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
10/16/2025
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Recent Episodes
July 14, 2026
Going Deeper into Integral Theory | with Bruce Alderman, Nick Hedlund, & Brendan Graham Dempsey
<p>Website: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://appliedmetatheory.org/">https://appliedmetatheory.org/</a></p><p>Support IAM: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://appliedmetatheory.org/donate/">https://appliedmetatheory.org/donate/</a></p><p>Join IAM: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://appliedmetatheory.org/join/">https://appliedmetatheory.org/join/</a></p><p>The New Story of Wholeness: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://newstoryofwholeness.com/">https://newstoryofwholeness.com/</a></p><p>Integrative Values Charter: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://integrativevalues.org/">https://integrativevalues.org/</a></p><p>Integration: The Journal Of Big Picture Theory and Practice: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://integrationjournal.org/">https://integrationjournal.org/</a></p><p>In this episode of the Integration podcast, Bruce Alderman returns for a deeper look at integral theory, continuing the conversation he opened at the IAM Research Forum. Joined by Brendan Graham Dempsey and Nick Hedlund, he traces Wilber's path into integral theory from its roots in transpersonal psychology through the five moving parts of the AQAL model: quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types.</p><p>Alderman then turns to where the model runs thin. He walks through its weak connection to evolutionary biology and philosopher Mark Edwards' critique that integral quietly conflates the individual and the collective, tracing how a framework built to hold everything together can end up flattening real differences.</p><p>Yet Alderman argues these limits open onto something generative. He introduces his own toolkit for reading any big framework: a lightly-held approach to categories he calls the "a-categorical imperative," and "heno-ontology," a way of letting frameworks like integral theory and critical realism each hold their own ground without one swallowing the rest.</p><p>The episode closes on a question left open for the whole Integrative Metatheory 2.0 project: one new synthesized map, or several frameworks working side by side?</p><p>Timestamps:</p><p>00:00:00 – Introduction</p><p>00:01:41 – A Primer on Wilberian Integral Theory: From Transpersonal Roots to AQAL</p><p>00:16:05 – Where the Model Runs Thin: Science, Evolution, and Mark Edwards' Critique</p><p>00:22:05 – Mapping What Came After Wilber</p><p>00:29:24 – Inside Bruce's Grammar for Reading Big Ideas</p><p>00:44:00 – Heno-ontology: Holding Multiple Frameworks at Once</p><p>00:48:00 – Pushback: Does This Flatten Ontology and Epistemology?</p><p>00:54:47 – One Map or Many? The Open Question for Integrative Metatheory 2.0</p><p>01:17:56 – Closing Thoughts and What's Next</p>
June 24, 2026
From Matter to Mind: Inside the Unified Theory of Knowledge | Gregg Henriques, Nick Hedlund, Brendan Graham Dempsey
<p>In this episode of the Integration podcast, Dr. Gregg Henriques joins Brendan Graham Dempsey and Nick Hedlund for a deeper dive into the Unified Theory of Knowledge. His earlier presentation at the IAM Research Forum established the philosophical context; this conversation goes inside the model itself.</p><p>Key themes include the Tree of Knowledge in depth: the four cones of complexification and how matter, life, mind, and culture emerge as distinct information-processing domains. The conversation also takes up two levels of consciousness and what UTOK has to say about panpsychism, before turning to the RAFTing model (Relating, Acting, Feeling, Thinking) as a practical framework for psychology. Dr. Henriques closes by reflecting on UTOK's limits and what it stands to gain from engagement with other metatheories.</p><p>Modernity's greatest achievements came without a coherent worldview to guide them. Without an adequate foundation for what is real and what we value, coordinating at the scale we now inhabit remains an open problem. That, Dr. Henriques argues, is precisely what UTOK is working to address.</p><p>Timestamps:</p><p>00:00:00 – Introduction: Continuing the UTOK Conversation</p><p>00:02:52 – Unpacking the Tree of Knowledge Diagram</p><p>00:15:15 – The Emergence of Mind: From Organism to Culture</p><p>00:32:12 – UTOK and Consciousness</p><p>00:46:05 – The Hard Problem and Perspectival Epistemic Portal</p><p>00:55:10 – The RAFTing Model as Applied Psychology</p><p>01:09:07 – The Real-World Stakes of Metatheory</p><p>01:09:33 – UTOK's Limits and What It Still Needs</p>
June 17, 2026
Why Integrative Metatheory 2.0 Now? | Robb Smith, Nick Hedlund, Brendan Graham Dempsey
<p>In this episode of the Integration podcast, Robb Smith joins Nicholas Hedlund and Brendan Graham Dempsey to make the case for Integrative Metatheory 2.0. Drawing on a project that began with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens' meta-integral work in 2010-2013, they explore how frameworks like critical realism, Edgar Morin's complex thought, and metamodernism entered the conversation alongside integral theory, and what it now takes to bring them into genuine dialogue. </p><p>Key themes include a typology of metatheories (philosophical, scientific, and synthetic), the causal force of worldviews in shaping our understanding of and response to planetary-scale systems, and why AI and other accelerating developments make adequate conceptual foundations more urgent than ever. The group also takes up negative transfiguration as a core commitment: the aim is for frameworks to genuinely learn from and alter each other, rather than collapse into a single grand synthesis. </p><p>The conversation closes on what success looks like for the project: frameworks that change as a result of dialogue, and the emergence of a shared grammar adequate to navigating between disciplines and philosophical traditions. </p><p></p><p>Timestamps: </p><p>00:00:15 – Introduction and Project Overview </p><p>00:02:48 – The Project's History: From Meta-Integral to IMT 2.0 </p><p>00:05:40 – The "So What?" Critique </p><p>00:13:47 – Modernity Scaled the Planet on a Fragmented Worldview </p><p>00:20:41 – Worldview, AI, and the Question of Agency </p><p>00:46:08 – A Typology of Metatheories </p><p>00:54:22 – What Does Success Look Like? </p><p>00:57:07 – Negative Transfiguration</p>
6 total episodes available
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- What is Integration?
<p>The Integration podcast features thinkers forging connections across domains, traditions, and levels of analysis in pursuit of deeper coherence and actionable wisdom. In particular, it unpacks and promotes the work of scholars contributing to Integration: The Journal of Big Picture Theory and Practice, a peer-reviewed, inter-, trans-, and archdisciplinary journal committed to advancing the integrative study and applied use of metatheory and systems thinking for engaging with the unprecedented complexity of the 21st century. It also features scholars whose work is making vital contributions to this broader field.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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