Asian and Comparative Studies MA and PhD Programs
Sri Aurobindo stresses the fact that a sound and adequate philosophy should be based upon an integrated vision of the nature of existence.
Such an integrated vision can be attained not through mere critical reflection upon the purity of fragmentary human experiences such as commonsense, art, science, morality, religion, and the like, but by outgrowing all partial experiences through a total mobilization of the different resources of human personality. …Philosophy is not, therefore, a theory, but an activity.
--Haridas Chaudhuri, The Philosophy of Integralism
The Asian and Comparative Studies MA and PhD programs attract students from diverse backgrounds who pursue a curriculum that engages classical subjects as well as fresh perspectives on spiritual philosophies and traditions.
Through advanced study of major Eastern religious and philosophical traditions, students encounter world traditions and cultivate an integrative understanding of
- the personal and the social,
- the intellectual and the spiritual,
- the historical, and
- the contemporary.
CIIS founder Haridas Chaudhuri arrived in the United States at a time when the “Global Village” was still imminent. A visionary, Dr. Chaudhuri believed that education was the best vehicle for informing the new culture that would evolve.
Dr. Chaudhuri, as a philosopher and student of the 20th century Indian spiritual master Sri Aurobindo, ceaselessly promoted in teaching and writing the full integration of the human being-the intellect, emotions, personality, and the spirit-to achieve the wholeness of which we are each capable.
The CIIS commitment to integral education, therefore, challenges students to deepen their own perspectives on the self and the world through inquiry, research, reflection, and experiential learning.