Robert McDermott is professor of

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

Religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

at the

California Institute of Integral Studies California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private university in San Francisco, California.Otterman, Sharon. "Merging Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at Columbia". ''New York Times'', Aug. 9, 2012Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greenin ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He received his Ph.D. in 1969 in philosophy from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and is president emeritus of the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has taught at

Manhattanville College Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart ...

(1964–71) and is professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Philosophy at

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...

, CUNY (1971–90). He was secretary of the

American Academy of Religion The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a profes ...

(1968–71) and secretary treasurer of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (1972–76). With

Arthur Zajonc Arthur Guy Zajonc ( ; born 11 October 1949, Boston, Massachusetts) is a physicist and the author of several books related to science, mind, and spirit; one of these is based on dialogues about quantum mechanics with the Dalai Lama. Zajonc, professor ...

, McDermott is co-founder of The

Owen Barfield Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 – 14 December 1997) was a British philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings. Life Barfield was born in London, to Elizabeth (née Shoults; 1860–1940) and Arthur Edward Barfield (1864 ...

Graduate School of Sunbridge College, is the founding chair of the board of Sophia Project (two homes in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, for mothers and children at risk of homelessness), and has been chair of the board and president of many other institutions. He is a teacher and former board chair of th
Rudolf Steiner Institute
He has written a number of books, as well as essays published in scholarly journals and anthologies. His essays have appeared in ''

International Philosophical Quarterly The ''International Philosophical Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal edited by a group of academics at Fordham University, with the collaboration of the Université de Namur in Belgium. The journal was established in 1961 to provide a ...

'', ''Cross Currents'', ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', and ''

Philosophy East and West ''Philosophy East and West'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering non-Western traditions of philosophy in relation to Anglo-American philosophy, integrating the discipline with literature, science, and social practices. Special issues have ...

''. Topics on which he has written or lectured include the evolution of consciousness, the spiritual mission of America, classic and modern spirituality and spiritual masters (East and West),

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

, and

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...

and

Anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers ...

. McDermott's term as president of CIIS marked an extraordinary achievement. He was the first president in its history who filled out his terms of office without resigning or being dismissed (not counting the founder and first President, the Bengali scholar Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri, who expired in his office in 1975 while writing a student, shortly after teaching his last class in Modern Brain Research and Psychodynamics). McDermott was able to steer a very small and vulnerable institution away from the very edge of dissolution in bankruptcy into the thriving institution that it is today, nearly quadrupling its enrollment subsequent to McDermott's resignation.

Partial bibliography

*''Radhakrishnan'' (1970) *''The Essential Aurobindo'' (1974) *''The Essential Steiner'' (1984) * Introduction to William James, ''Essays in Psychical Research'' (1986) * Four books published by Steinerbooks: #''The Bhagavad Gita and the West'' (2006) #''Buddha and Christ'' (2007) #''The New Essential Steiner'' (2007) #''Steiner and Anthroposophy'' (2008)

External links

Robert McDermott's faculty bio at CIIS
Accessed 2016-11-02.
Essay "William James and Rudolf Steiner"
by Robert A. McDermott. Accessed March 22, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:McDermott, Robert A. Integral thought Living people Manhattanville College faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Western esotericism scholars