Description
Book SynopsisThis second book in the ‘Middle Way Philosophy’ series develops five general principles that are distinctive to the universal Middle Way as a practical response to absolutization. These begin with the consistent acknowledgement of human uncertainty (scepticism), and follow through with openness to alternative possibilities (provisionality), the importance of judging things as a matter of degree (incrementality), the clear rejection of polarised absolute claims (agnosticism) and the cultivation of cognitive and emotional states that will help us resolve conflict (integration). These are discussed not only in theory, but with links to the wide range of established human practices that can help us to follow them. Like all of Robert M. Ellis’s work, this book is highly inter-disciplinary, drawing on philosophical argument, psychological models and values that prioritize practical application.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Foreword to the Middle Way Philosphy series Dr. Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and his Emissary, fellow of All Soul’s College, Oxford and former psychiatrist Scepticism Uncertainty, 'Knowledge' and Sceptical Argument Scepticism is not Negative Scepticism is not Impractical Scepticism, Embodiment and Meaningfulness Scepticism is not Selective Scepticism does not Threaten Meaning Scepticism Applies to Values and Facts Provisionality Optionality and Adaptiveness Complexity and Antifragility Slowness Synthesis Suppression Probabilizing Weighing Up Incrementality Systemic Continuity Tipping Points Practical Discontinuity Continuity of Persons Continuity of Time Continuity of Space Continuity of Training Agnosticism Wary as Serpents Even-handedness Strong, not Weak, Agnosticism Awareness of Appropriation and Lumping Awareness of Sceptical Slippage Awareness of Unholy Alliances Agnosticism and Psychological Development Integration Recognizing Conflict Reframing Responses to Intractability Integration of Desire, Meaning and Belief Individual and Group Integration Temporary Integration Asymmetrical Integration Practice The Middle Way as a Framework of Practices The Threefold Practice Individual Integration of Desire Practices Socio-political Integration of Desire Practices Individual Integration of Meaning Practices Socio-political Integration of Meaning Practices Individual Integration of Belief Practices Socio-political Integration of Belief Practices
