Bald Ambition: A Critique of Ken Wilber's Theory of Everything, (Hardcover)

"During the many years that I have been familiar with Ken Wilber's writings, I have often wondered what a trained academic philosopher would make of them. While a few of them, such as Charles Taylor, have spoken favorably of Ken, most seem to have remained silent. With Bald Ambition, we finally have a detailed answer to this question. Though Jeff Meyerhoff is apparently not a professional philosopher, I think the quality of his ideas as well as their presentation is up to academic standards, and I'm quite sure that many academic philosophers would agree with much of what he says....[and/or]...Whatever Wilber might think of Bald Ambition, if he actually took the trouble to read it, he could not honestly argue, as he does so often with his other online critics, that Meyerhoff misrepresents his views. Meyerhoff has not simply pored over many of Wilber's twenty or so books, but unlike most other Wilber critics, has taken the trouble to check out many of Wilber's original sources. Thus when he turns the table and accuses Ken of misrepresenting or ignoring other thinkers, Meyerhoff's point carries considerable weight." -Andrew P. Smith, Ph.D., author of The Dimensions of Experience In clear and lively prose, Bald Ambition summarizes and analyzes Ken Wilber's arguments for his theory of everything, and investigates his scholarly sources. Areas that Wilber integrates into his theory-such as psychology, mysticism, philosophy, methodology, social evolution, Western history, postmodernism, and systems theory-are examined. In addition, an original argument explaining the relationship between psychology and belief is described, and a penetrating analysis of the connections between Ken Wilber's psychology and beliefs is offered as an illustration of Meyerhoff's theory.