Dr. Ashok Gangadean, Strategic Advisor (Philadelphia, PA USA)

Ashok Gangadean is Margaret Gest Professor of Global Philosophy at Haverford College where he has taught for the past fifty-five years. He completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Brandeis University and his early work focused on Logic (Science of Thought) and Ontology (Science of Being). Throughout his career he has been in quest of the primal integral logic at the heart of human reason, and in bringing to the fore the deep dynamics of communication and dialogue between diverse worldviews. In this quest over four decades to clarify and excavate the common ground across and between widely diverse worlds, cultures, ideologies and disciplines he has emerged as a pioneer of the new frontier of global reason, global ethics and global wisdom. His courses range over Philosophy of Logic and Language, Global Ontology, Global Ethics, Hindu, Buddhist and Zen Thought in Global Context and Global Wisdom. Ashok has participated in widely diverse professional conferences around the globe and has published numerous essays and several books seeking to demonstrate that human reason is essentially, global, holistic, integral, dialogic and intercultural in scope and power. His book, Meditative Reason: Toward Universal Grammar attempts to open the way to global reason, and a companion volume, Between Worlds: The Emergence of Global Reason explores the dialogical common ground between worlds and disciplines. A third volume, Meditations of Global First Philosophy: Quest for the Missing Grammar of Logos builds on his earlier work seeking to clarify the fundamental Logos or Universal Grammar underlying all cultures, religions, philosophies and ideologies. His forthcoming book, The Awakening of the Global Mind further develops these themes for the general reader, and Sounds True recently released a six CD audio set in which he performs the central insights of this Awakening volume. Ashok has also published extensively on the deepening of liberal arts education and is now preparing a volume on The Renovation of Liberal Arts Education. Ashok has sought to bring his findings on the fundamental Logos in human cultures, experience and life to the wider academy and public in diverse ways. He is Founder-Director of the Global Dialogue Institute which seeks to embody the powers of Deep Dialogue in all aspects of cultural life. He collaborated with certain colleagues to convene the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality which brings eminent world leaders together in sustained deep dialogue to cultivate global vision and wisdom for the new millennium. He is also Co-Chair of the World Wisdom Council which is focused on bringing the transformative power of wisdom to addressing the crises facing humanity today. Ashok has also been a television host in the Greater Philadelphia Region for five years where his show “Global Lens” has reached out to the public in cultivating global literacy. He has also played a leading role in the development of the Margaret Gest Center since its launching in 1972. And over the past three years he has functioned as Director of the Gest Program. He was appointed to the Distinguished Gest Professorship in 2010.