An integrative or integral approach to knowledge is one that brings together multiple perspectives, incorporating the most essential, valid, and useful aspects into a single comprehensive, comprehensible framework. In this general sense, Integral Psychology is a comprehensive approach to understanding human experience and behavior. It is a systematic inquiry into who we are and how we live as human beings, one that takes into account and makes use of the widest possible range of available knowledge so that we can clearly understand and effectively approach the challenges we face as individuals and as a species.
In his Outline of an Integral Psychology, Ken Wilber proclaims that:
Psychology as we have known it, I believe, is basically dead. In its place will be more integral approaches. (…) The test of any integral psychology is to what degree it can accept and coherently integrate the valid research and data from the various schools of psychology–not just the four major forces, but developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognitive sciences, phenomenological/hermeneutic approaches, and so on.
The most current expressions of Wilber’s integral approach can be accessed via his Integral Life website. Another approach to Integral Psychology is that of Haridas Chaudhuri, founder of the California Institute of Integral Studies (For a discussion of Chauduri’s approach, see the Shirazi article below).
Articles:
Ken Wilber: Outline of an Integral Psychology
Ken Wilber: Introduction to the Integral Approach
Ken Wilber: Preface to Integral Psychology
Ken Wilber: An Integral Theory of Consciousness
Bahman A.K. Shirazi: Integral Psychology: Metaphors and Processes of Personal Integration
Click HERE for a list of online resource links.