Abstract

This dissertation is a survey of the tradition comprised of individuals known as new paradigm scholars. Convinced that Western culture is in the midst of a paradigm shift which involves the re-integration of a feminine, ecological impulse into a dominantly masculine, rational value system, these scholars share in the attempt to explain why this shift is occurring, to show the forms it is taking, and to analyze the principles behind its purportedly inevitable success. The most striking structural similarity among their theories centers on the understanding of the polarities in nature according to three specific, chronologically-arranged paradigms: a primal paradigm based on a balance of polarities; a reason-as-virtue paradigm as exhibited in ancient Greek philosophy, Christianity, and science; and the new paradigm which attempts to incorporate the primal expressions of the balance in modern/contemporary terms. ;Part One surveys the new paradigm tradition by distinguishing between three periods of its development and by examining the messages of six representative scholars. Focusing on the tenets of the primal paradigm, Part Two investigates the evolution of and the nature of the relationship between yin and yang, Shiva and Vishnu, and Dionysus and Apollo to show how the principles of balance inherent in each pair correspond to their use by new paradigm scholars as a model for developing a philosophical alternative to the West's world view and value system. Part Three elucidates the relationship in the second paradigm between the dissolution of the primal balance in the West and the reason-as-virtue edict which accompanied the rise of the logos principle in Greek philosophy. Part Four surveys how various movements associated with the 1960s Zeitgeist reflect present forms and emerging patterns of Paradigm Three and supplies literary and musical examples of the aesthetic manifestation of this Zeitgeist. In short, the dissertation surveys the ways in which new paradigm scholars explain how the rise of reason forced the Dionysus/Shiva/yin impulse underground for over two millenia, until modern/contemporary attempts to reintegrate it started to surface