Abstract

The article focuses on the key aspects (which are the principles of holism and evolution) of the integral approach of the modern American philosopher, Ken Wilber. The theory of Ken Wilber is analyzed in the framework of the new paradigm of science, which is being developed during the last decade of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. The advantages of the works of Ken Wilber are the following: firstly, the scientist was able to systematize and integrate dozens of other theoretical approaches, most of which are relatively new and not well-known. Secondly, Ken Wilber’s theory is important for the reason that it can serve as a methodological and “practical” method, which can be applied to the study of any phenomenon, taking into consideration as many aspects of reality as possible, as well as those theoretical approaches, which are otherwise unrelated to each other. It makes possible to avoid reductionism and fragmentation of knowledge in the study of (religion). The article shows the importance of Wilber’s theory for the area of religious studies. I have built existing theories that study religion into a methodological “map”, which provides a basis for such kind of approach to religion that can integrate positivistic, phenomenological, functionalist, psychological and other theories in the area of religious studies. Such theories, taken separately, study only one aspect of religion, representing a fragmentary knowledge of this phenomenon, and this aspect is compensated by an integral approach. In addition, it can be hypothesizedthat antagonisms between religious bodies and religious persons can be interpreted and explained as a conflict between different structures of consciousness, (studied by K. Wilber in his works as well).