Big Picture philosophy, put to work on the problems that need it.
We are an applied philosophy network formed from the belief that the world’s largest problems and most difficult questions are not being considered with the complexity needed to see their transformational potential.
A whole new way of seeing reality is needed if we’re to adequately navigate the scope and scale of today’s global issues. To this end, IAM is committed to cutting-edge research across four major vectors:
What is the nature of the interconnected social, ecological, ethical, epistemic and existential challenges of our time?
We treat the metacrisis not as a list of separate emergencies but as one coupled system, where each failure erodes the capacity we would need to address the others. Our work here maps that ecology, names the coupling, and asks which interventions actually move it.
What are worldviews, and how do their frameworks of meaning and value transform in response to civilizational steering problems?
Worldviews are the deep structures through which a society decides what is real, what matters and what may be done. We study how they form, how they measure, and what conditions let one give way to another without collapse.
What Big Picture philosophy lies at the heart of the integrative worldview now emerging beyond our prior meaning-making structures?
Metatheory is the discipline of holding many frameworks at once without flattening any of them. This vector builds the philosophical spine the rest of the Institute draws on — and opens it to challenge in public.
How do we apply integrative thinking to the challenges we face, and what institutions can we incubate to address them?
A philosophy that changes nothing is a hobby. This vector is where the frameworks meet policing reform, climate adaptation, philanthropy and civic education — and where new institutions get seeded, funded and let go.
By advancing our understanding in these key domains and operationalizing their insights, we endeavor to help catalyze the sort of liberatory transformations needed for a society of human flourishing in the 21st century.
What the Institute is building
All 9 initiatives →
The New Story of Wholeness
Bringing the integrative worldview to life as a felt, visual and narrative experience — seven lenses, twenty-six touchpoints.
The Cultural Complexity Index
Measuring how much complexity a society’s institutions, knowledge systems and values can actually hold.
Faith Development Pathway
Building the first open-access protocol for the developmental maturation of faith and meaning-making.
The Worldview Studies Initiative
Filling a critical gap in our empirical understanding of how worldviews develop across the world.
The Worldview Studies Initiative
Worldviews LiveThe New Story of Wholeness
Worldviews LiveFaith Development Pathway
Worldviews ActiveUnified Worldview Initiative
Integrative Metatheory In developmentStrategic Metacrisis Mapping Initiative
The Metacrisis In developmentThe Cultural Complexity Index
Worldviews LiveThe Evolution of Philanthropy
Social Impact LiveEncyclopedia of Big Pictures
Integrative Metatheory ScopingIntegrative Policing Transformation Initiative (Phase 1)
Social Impact Scoping
Seven lenses. Seven ways of seeing what you couldn’t see before.
The New Story of Wholeness is a passage through depth, evolution, intelligence, relationality, perspective, value and unity — twenty-six touchpoints carrying the integrative worldview into everyday sense-making.
Our Academic Journal
Integration is a peer-reviewed, inter-, trans-, and archdisciplinary journal committed to advancing the integrative study and applied use of metatheory and systems thinking for engaging with the unprecedented complexity of the 21st century. It provides a scholarly home for those forging connections across domains, traditions, and levels of analysis in pursuit of deeper coherence and actionable wisdom.
Learn more
Latest work
Measuring Altitude: Empirically Grounding Developmental Levels with the Lectical Scale
For twenty-five years, integral theory has made a bold claim: that all the major maps of human development — Kohlberg’s moral stages, Loevinger’s ego stages, Fowler’s faith stages,…
Integrative Metatheories: Complex Integral Realism with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
How big is your integral theory of everything, and what does your everything leave out? Sean Esbjörn-Hargens has spent two decades on that question. His framework, Complex Integral…
A Closer Look at Visionary Realism with Nick Hedlund & Brendan Graham Dempsey
Nick Hedlund describes Visionary Realism as an attempt to sketch a worldview adequate to the complexity and sacredness of reality, one built on reverence, humility, and listening. In…
Measuring Altitude: Empirically Grounding Developmental Levels with the Lectical Scale
For twenty-five years, integral theory has made a bold claim: that all the major maps of human development — Kohlberg’s moral stages, Loevinger’s ego stages, Fowler’s faith stages,…
The New Story of Wholeness is live
Dear friends, Last year we announced the New Story of Wholeness initiative. Today it has gone live, and you are the very first to receive it. A new…
Integrative Metatheories: Complex Integral Realism with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
IAM Research ForumAug 2026
A Closer Look at Visionary Realism with Nick Hedlund & Brendan Graham Dempsey
Integration PodcastAug 2026
Integrative Metatheories: Visionary Realism | Nick Hedlund
IAM Research ForumJul 2026
Roy Bhaskar’s Critical Realism: A Closer Look | w/ Leigh Price, Nick Hedlund, Brendan Graham Dempsey
Integration PodcastJul 2026
Going Deeper into Integral Theory | with Bruce Alderman, Nick Hedlund, & Brendan Graham Dempsey
Integration PodcastJul 2026
Measuring Altitude: Empirically Grounding Developmental Levels with the Lectical Scale
IAM White PapersJul 2026
Integrative Metatheories: Integral Theory & Critical Realism (with Bruce Alderman and Leigh Price)
IAM Research ForumJul 2026
From Matter to Mind: Inside the Unified Theory of Knowledge | Gregg Henriques, Nick Hedlund, Brendan Graham Dempsey
Integration PodcastJun 2026
Why Integrative Metatheory 2.0 Now? | Robb Smith, Nick Hedlund, Brendan Graham Dempsey
Integration PodcastJun 2026
Integrative Metatheories: Unified Theory of Knowledge (with Gregg Henriques)
IAM Research ForumJun 2026
Invitation and Gameplan for Contributing to an Integrative Metatheory 2.0 | IAM Research Forum
IAM Research ForumJun 2026
The New Story of Wholeness is live
Initiative newsMay 2026
Introducing the Integrative Values Charter
Institute newsApr 2026
Join the Legacy Circle
Institute newsApr 2026
An Intersubjective Epistemology for Social Science with Michael Mascolo | IAM Research Forum
IAM Research ForumApr 2026
What Makes One Worldview Better than Another? Nine Metaphilosophical Criteria with Clément Vidal
IAM Research ForumMar 2026
Metapatterns Across Reality: From Quarks to Mind and Culture with Tyler Volk
IAM Research ForumMar 2026
Integrating the Human Sciences with Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm
IAM Research ForumMar 2026
Is Everything Equally Real? Ordinal Naturalism Explained with Lawrence Cahoone
IAM Research ForumFeb 2026
Natural Philosophy 2.0: Rebuilding a Coherent Worldview with Gregg Henriques
IAM Research ForumFeb 2026
Join the IAM Team
Institute newsFeb 2026
What Is Meta-Studies?
Integration PodcastJan 2026
Integration for Transformation
Integration PodcastJan 2026
Metatheory, Metacrisis, Mission – IAM Research Forum
IAM Research ForumJan 2026
2025: Year In Review
Institute newsDec 2025
Integration: A New Podcast Exploring Big Picture Thinking
Integration PodcastOct 2025
Announcing Integration: The Journal of Big Picture Theory and Practice
Institute newsOct 2025
Introducing The New Story of Wholeness
Initiative newsAug 2025
Mapping an Ecology of Integrative Approaches to Addressing the Metacrisis
IAM White PapersJul 2025
IAM Spotlight: The Faith Development Pathway
IAM Research ForumJun 2025
IAM Announces Partnership with CIHS
Institute newsMay 2025
Why Philanthropy Is the Most Powerful Lever for Systemic Change
IAM Research ForumApr 2025
IAM Announces The Evolution of Philanthropy
Initiative newsApr 2025
IAM Announces The Unified Worldview Initiative
Initiative newsApr 2025
Polarization and the Algorithmic Undertow
IAM Research ForumApr 2025
A Sociology of Big Pictures: Network Strategy for a 21st Century Worldview
IAM White PapersFeb 2025
IAM Spotlight: The Cultural Complexity Index
IAM Research ForumFeb 2025
Polarization and the Algorithmic Undertow: Integral and Critical Realist Perspectives
IAM White PapersJan 2025
What We’ve Learned: 2024 Reflections and Looking Ahead to 2025
IAM Research ForumJan 2025
SALT for Climate: Redefining Urgency and Transformation in Climate Leadership
IAM Research ForumOct 2024
IAM Announces The Strategic Metacrisis Mapping Initiative
Initiative newsSep 2024
IAM Announces SALT for Climate
Initiative newsAug 2024
Introducing the Cultural Complexity Index
IAM Research ForumAug 2024
IAM Announces the Cultural Complexity Index
Initiative newsJul 2024
How America Got Here: A 50 Year Journey to Polarization
IAM Research ForumJul 2024
Transforming Law Enforcement: Integral Policing Roundtable
IAM Research ForumJun 2024
IAM: Organizing Big Pictures For The Transformation Age
IAM Research ForumMay 2024
IAM, Q2 Update
Institute newsMay 2023
The Institute of Applied Metatheory: At the Edge, Dancing with Life
Institute newsFeb 2023
Announcing The Institute of Applied Metatheory
Institute newsJan 2023
2023: Stage 3 of the Integral Movement Begins
Institute newsJan 2023No posts match those filters.
Latest white papers
Our white paper series publishes long-form research from IAM staff, initiative teams and network associates.
Measuring Altitude: Empirically Grounding Developmental Levels with the Lectical Scale
For twenty-five years, integral theory has made a bold claim: that all the major maps of human development — Kohlberg’s…
8 Jul 2026
Mapping an Ecology of Integrative Approaches to Addressing the Metacrisis
Dear friends, The Institute of Applied Metatheory (IAM) is pleased to announce the release of a new white paper that…
16 Jul 2025
A Sociology of Big Pictures: Network Strategy for a 21st Century Worldview
The Institute of Applied Metatheory (IAM) presents “A Sociology of Big Pictures: Network Strategy for a 21st Century Worldview” by…
28 Feb 2025
Polarization and the Algorithmic Undertow: Integral and Critical Realist Perspectives
The Institute of Applied Metatheory (IAM) presents a groundbreaking analysis of digital polarization and its profound impact on our increasingly…
27 Jan 2025