New Theses on Integral Micropolitics

Daniel Gustav Anderson is a cultural critic and integral theorist currently teaching literature and cultural history in Washington D.C.

Anderson has called for the development of a "critical Integral theory," which he conceives as a theory capable of doing Integral work while holding up to a rigorous ideological analysis. He has mapped this position in his essay, "Of Syntheses and Surprises: Toward a Critical Integral Theory".

His work is heavily influenced by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Zizek, Ziporyn, and Tarthang Tulku among others. He has expressed the view that the aim of a critical integral theory must be radical democracy, on the hypothesis that enlightenment experiences and social revolution share a similar organizational pattern.

Below, in an outstanding new essay, Daniel further develops his project and provides resources towards a more critical and integrative social theory. Enjoy:

“Such a Body We Must Create”: New Theses on Integral Micropolitics

By Daniel Gustav Anderson

This essay proposes a rigorously postmetaphysical integral praxis, defines what this means and how such an intervention may be premised, and demonstrates throughout some methodological and practical advantages this approach may have over extant metaphysically-oriented integral theories.

Beginning with an interpretation of post-Hegelian historical and dialectical materialisms informed by the Buddhist dialectical tradition of Madhyamika, a series of coordinated and interrelated theses address problems proper to fields such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, semiotics, historiography, and subaltern studies.

The claimed purpose of this project is to coordinate subjective (psychological, spiritual) and objective (social, political, economic) transformational imperatives into a coherent, non-ontological “counterproject.” It takes as its aim the production of a radically democratized, responsible, and sane subjective and objective space, where responsibility is characterized as critical clarity, competence, creative consciousness, and compassion.

Read More (PDF): Here