This page links to further pages about individual books on Middle Way Philosophy, including both introductions and more detailed books. All these books so far are by Robert M Ellis, the founder of the society, but the category is in principle open to others if they produce work about the universal Middle Way (rather than the Middle Way subservient to a particular religious or other tradition).
Introductory books about Middle Way Philosophy:
Migglism: A Beginner’s Guide to Middle Way Philosophy by Robert M Ellis* (2014)
A short and accessible guide intended for those new to Middle Way Philosophy, with summaries and illustrations.
Truth on the Edge by Robert M Ellis** (2011)
A slightly more philosophical but still introductory book. It explains the overall approach to philosophical issues, and various areas of practical application, including ethics, religion, science and politics.
Parables of the Middle Way * by Robert M Ellis (2016)
This book offers a more imaginative way into some key themes of Middle Way Philosophy, using a series of stories and commentaries.
The Middle Way Philosophy Series
For a detailed, multi-disciplinary, up-to-date and rigorous account of Middle Way Philosophy, please see the series by Robert M. Ellis being published by Equinox from 2022 onwards. This supersedes the old series published between 2012 and 2015, which has now been withdrawn. The series is expected to consist in 9 volumes altogether. The links below will take you onto details on Robert’s author website. Please see that website (robertmellis.net) or the Equinox website for the most up to date information.
I: Absolutization: The Source of Dogma, Repression and Conflict (2022)
A diagnosis of the basic problem in human judgement that makes the Middle Way necessary.
II: The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy: Living Experientially in a World of Uncertainty (2023)
The most important volume of the series. A practically-oriented account of the distinctive features of the Middle Way approach under five principles: scepticism, provisionality, incrementality, agnosticism and integration.
III: A Systemic History of the Middle Way: Its Biological, Psycho-Developmental, and Cultural Conditions (2024)
A survey of why the Middle Way is both possible and necessary, understood in terms of the reinforcing and balancing feedback loops in human development.
IV: Embodied Meaning and Integration: Overcoming the Abstracted Grip on Meaning in Theory and Practice (forthcoming, 2025)
An account of the radical implications of embodied meaning and the ways that this contributes to the distinctive Middle Way perspective.
V: Bias and the Middle Way: How to Stop Absolutizing our Conditioned Assumptions (forthcoming, 2025)
A survey of the wide range of biases and fallacies, put in the larger context of Middle Way practice.
VI: The Practice of Agnosticism (planned)
A fuller survey of the philosophical implications of even-handed agnosticism as a practice for avoiding metaphysical beliefs and their absolutization.
VII: Mindful Beauty (planned)
An aesthetics of the Middle Way, exploring a distinctive view of beauty and of its role in the path.
VIII: Stretch Ethics (planned)
An account of ethics that avoids both impractical idealization and social reduction, but explains should in terms of the stretch from our current situation towards our inspirational ideals.
IX: The Middle Way Manifesto (planned)
The Middle Way applied to create an effective political philosophy and practical approach, that adequately connects human psychology with political activity.
Other Books about Aspects of Middle Way Philosophy by Robert M Ellis
The Christian Middle Way (Christian Alternative, 2018)
The Buddha’s Middle Way: Experiential Judgement in his Life and Teaching (Equinox, 2019)
The Thought of Sangharakshita: A Critical Assessment (Equinox, 2020)
Red Book, Middle Way: How Jung Parallels the Buddha’s Method for Human Integration (Equinox, 2020)
Archetypes in Religion and Beyond: A Practical Theory of Human Integration and Inspiration (Equinox, 2022)
The Middle Way philosophy is similar to the Wasatia/Middle way in Islam. Aristotle also wrote about the Golden Mean. We need to share human knowledge about moderation/Middle Path/Middle Way to empower it globally in theory and in practice.
I am Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi, Founder of the Wasatia Movement in Palestine hoping that we can exchange knowledge on this important value.
Peace
Dear Professor Daoudi, Many thanks for your message. The Middle Way Society seeks to be in dialogue with , and to support, other organisations around the world that are questioning dogma and seeking resolution of conflict. I have just been looking at your website http://www.wasatia.info/articles/about-wasatia/16-wasatia-the-middle-road.html and finding it interesting and encouraging. I applaud your initiative in bringing moderation to Islam.
Where we may differ is on our interpretation of what the Middle Path means. For me it is a principle of judgement, not a metaphysical claim about ultimately right values as it is in Aristotle. I think the Middle Way can be practised in the context of any tradition, including Islam, but that one of the starting points for the Middle Way in relation to any tradition has to be the avoidance of absolute claims. The use of the Qur’an in relation to the Middle Way as I see it, then, would need to be as a source of inspiration subject to critical appraisal from a practical and experiential standpoint, not as a source of revelation whereby beliefs are claimed to be true solely because they are in the Qur’an. It also seems to me that the implication of the doctrine of idolatry in Islam (shirk) must be that any claim to know the absolute will of God, through the Qur’an or otherwise, is idolatrous. Surely, being human, we must recognise that we are not in a position to know any such thing, and we need to take responsibility for the fact that our uses of texts involve our own interpretation?
However, I can see how difficult it might be to adopt such a position in any traditional Muslim society, particularly one that has been through as much trauma as Palestinian society. I’d be interested to hear more about your strategies for finding a middle path in that context.
I’m pleased to make contact with you, and would be interested to continue the discussion if you have any thoughts on this point.
I can not believe I only discovered you and your effort now. For the past 15 years I have been developing a notion that is both parallel and complementary to yours. I short, I am convinced that humanities most fundamental problem is the process by which simple black&white dichotomous thinking replaces problem-based goal-oriented thinking. I believe that dichotomous thinking is the single greatest barrier to the goals you are trying to achieve and the world that you and I and most of us want to see. Would love to hear any thoughts or ideas you might have regarding my site. DichotomousThinking.org
Hi Jim, Thanks for your message, and I’ve just had a look at your website. I think there are some important overlaps with the Middle Way there, and your thinking is heading in a promising direction. As I see it, dichotomy or dualism is one of the features of absolutisation, because a positive absolute claim will always oppose itself to a negative version.
There are also some differences in the way we approach things. These may or may not be very significant. There’s lots I could say, but I’ll just focus on two key points for now. You can look at my books (or at the videos on this site) if you want more info.
One is that you contrast dichotomous thinking with goal-oriented or cortical thinking. I’d agree that it seems to be various parts of the cortex that give us a bigger perspective beyond dichotomy, but also suggest that one of the problems with dichotomous thinking is that it’s narrowly goal-oriented. The avoidance of dichotomous thinking involves both being prepared to re-examine our goals and also being able to think in process terms. This relates to the role of the over-dominant left hemisphere in maintaining dichotomous thinking, rather than just the reptilian brain. If you haven’t come across it, I’d highly recommend Iain McGilchrist’s ‘The Master and his Emissary’ (reviewed on this site) on brain lateralisation. I’ve tried to sketch the relationship between the front-back and left-right brain issues, as well as various kinds of psychology, as far as I can in this blog: http://www.middlewaysociety.org/combining-psychological-models-in-the-middle-way/. But much work remains to be done in this area by those more scientifically competent than I.
Another key element of my thinking that I don’t detect on your website is the role of integration. To try to put the nub of this briefly, I think that one doesn’t overcome absolutisation by contradicting it, and there’s a grave danger that one will just slip into the opposite absolute (the other side of the dichotomy) by mere opposition that does not attempt to reframe the terms of belief. Instead of beating one another, then, opposites need to integrate: which involves a dialectical sorting and reframing process and a resolution of conflicts in the process. I’d suggest the left pre-frontal cortex (the language and tool centres) only have a preliminary role in this, creating rational coherence. But rationally coherent beliefs can be deeply in conflict with each other, and it’s the wider perspective offered by the right frontal cortex that can enable integration between different sets of coherent beliefs. It’s not enough just to be consistent – we also need to recognise that our consistent models are not the whole story (which is why scepticism is important).
Your work has just come to my attention in the past few days.
I’m confused on the titles of your books on Middle Way philosophy.
(None of the Equinox titles seem to be on the middlewaysociety website.)
If the Equinox titles replace previous titles, what is the correspondence of old titles to new?
Thx.
Hello, Apologies. I have failed to update this page for quite a few years! Now you’ve brought it to my attention I will update it. The place to see up to date information on my books is my personal website robertmellis.net.
As regards the relationship between the old Middle Way Philosophy series and the new, the new supersedes the old and is much better! Not only is it published to an academic standard by Equinox, but incorporates a further 10 years both of the development of my own thinking and of advances in the academic fields I tap into. It’s explained in more of the detail and with more of the rigour that is required for as ambitious a project as it is.
There is no correspondence between the titles of the old series and the new series. They are differently organized.
I’ve now updated this page, so you should see a more up to date picture.