The Power of Balance: Transforming Self, Society, and Scientific Inquiry

• Main Author: William R. Torbert
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: ARINA, Inc. 2010-03-01
• Series: Integral Review
• Subjects: transformation; action inquiry; developmental psychology; William R. Torbert; power; social science.; Hobbes; justice; Kant; legitimacy; liberating structures; mutually-enhancing power; Plato; power of balance; practices; political principles; Rawls; Rousseau; social justice
• Online Access: http://integral-review.org/pdf-template-issue.php?pdfName=vol_6_no_1_torbert_the_power_of_balance.pdf

The “power of balance” as conceived by Torbert represents an integral paradigm of principles, theory, and praxis. Deployed, the paradigm is one that can indeed inform and shape the development of self, society, and scientific inquiry. To explicate that fulsome vision, the book’s fifteen chapters develop the themes of three sections: Theory and Strategy, Heart and Practice, and Vision and Method. Here, we have excerpted from several chapters in Theory and Strategy, and from one chapter in Vision and Method. This means, of course, that we present but a small fraction of this integral classic, leaving out all of the rich, in-depth illustrations, including the author’s learning practice as he first attempted to enact the principles. Yet, we hope even this abbreviated form of The Power of Balance supports at least two goals: to offer deployable insights and practices for developing politics and the political; and to take root as part of a foundational canon for integral political thought, research, and praxis. How we readers deploy these principles in our own actions will determine the degree to which self, society, and scientific inquiry transform.