INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 889 Amsterdam, September 1st, 2020 KEN WILBER'S PROBLEMATIC RELATIONSHIP TO SCIENCE - FRANK VISSER Throughout his many works, Ken Wilber has shown an ambiguous attitude towards science, and especially evolutionary science. Even though the concept of evolution has been central to his entire work spanning four decades, his engagement with evolutionary theory has been minimal. He has often argued science can't explain some forms of complexity. He has suggested his ideas are like those of some famous scientists, seeming to suggest they implicitly support his ideas. At the same time, he has explicitly denied that these scientists would accept his specific idea of evolution as Spirit-in-action, metaphorically pictured as Eros-in-the-Kosmos. And finally, he has claimed to have “the only theory that can actually explain the mysteries of evolution” (Wilber, 2017, p. 14), even though his mystical notion about Eros doesn't qualify as a scientific theory. In sum, the interface of integral theory with evolutionary science needs much more thoughtful consideration than it has received until now. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/visser157.html