Those interested in dialectical thinking will be pleased to know that Otto Laske’s volume 2 of ‘Measuring Hidden Dimensions’ of 2008 has been thoroughly revised and is in the process of becoming available again in the form of a three-part monograph under the title of this blog. The title does justice to the fact that the monograph has relevance far beyond applications in work contexts and is a must-read for systems thinkers venturing outside of the purely logical domain of intellectual endeavor.
Since its first publication the scope of interest in complex thinking — beyond the mechanics of using thought forms — has broadened. Outside of being of interest to organizational thinkers, a broader, evolutionary, perspective , spearheaded by John Stewart and Lawrence Wollersheim, has emerged that centers on the planet’s global crisis. These authors address two capital aspects of human flourishing: (a) self-evolution, and (b) meta-systemic wisdom the core of which is dialectical thinking (see https://www.evolutionarymanifesto.com/SpandaArticle.pdf, by John E. Stewart). Another target audience of the monograph comprises high-level systemic thinkers with an integral focus, whether they are active in think tanks, government, or intelligence agencies, as well as architects and artists whose work focuses on transformation.
The three parts of the monograph are entitled (1) Approaching real-world complexity with dialectical thinking (193 pp), (2) A cognitive theory of work in organizations (214 pp), and (3) A manual of dialectical thought forms (252) — the only one in existence today. The three links at the bottom of the page describe the monograph in terms of its structure and content. A comparison between the monograph and other comparable publications based on it shows that many of the topics the book introduced, especially philosophical topics of human flourishing and the relationship between epistemological and ontological dialectic, are still waiting to be addressed.
The fact that the first edition of the monograph in 2008 has already made history can be gleaned from the 2023 internet references to the work shown below:
- John Stewart review : https://www.evolutionarymanifesto.com/ReviewofPrimer.pdf
- Lawrence Wollersheim review: https://universespirit-factnet.nationbuilder.com/tags/otto_laske
- Laske 2022 book chapter on integrating of epistemological into Bhaskar’s ontological dialectic: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003140313-7/applying-bhaskar-four-moments-dialectic-reshaping-cognitive-development-social-practice-using-laske-dialectical-thought-form-framework-otto-laske
- On the Dialectical Thought Form Framework (DTF): https://integral-review.org/tag/otto-laske/
- Metathinking Resources: https://metathinking.org/resources/
- On adult development: https://enliveningedge.org/views/adult-development-organizational-growth/
- On developmental coaching: https://instituteofcoaching.org/author/laske-otto
- Otto Laske, CAD Salon 2022 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gZSrQXXZgM
- Twenty Years IDM (2020): https://youtu.be/KrS2nW_AZpc
Amazon descriptions and reviews of Laske’s book
