About Louis Hoffman, Ph.D.

 

Who Am I?

Without pondering the existential depths of this question...

Louis Hoffman, Ph.D., is an Executive Faculty member at Saybrook University, located in San Francisco, CA. Saybrook University has a rich history in humanistic and existential psychology, as well as philosophical issues in psychology. Dr. Hoffman has edited four books including Existential Psychology East-West, Brilliant Sanity: Buddhist Approaches to Psychotherapy, The God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy, and Spirituality and Psychological Health. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Hoffman maintains a private practice in Colorado Springs. For more information on his private practice, please visit the Center for Growth web site. Dr. Hoffman is also on the editorial board for The Journal of Humanistic Psychology and PsycCRITIQUES: APA Review of Books.

Why Am I Qualified to Create this Web Site?

Good question. I've been studying and conversing about postmodernism for about 10-years now. It first peaked my interest from an adversarial position. I did not like it. However, after a few years of working through misconceptions and clarifying my own world view, I found it to be a good fit. Since this time, I've continued to read and write about postmodernism from a critical viewpoint. Critical in the sense that I think it is always important to critically think about what we read and our own positions on topics. Critical also in the sense that I think there are some dangers in postmodern thought which need to be addressed. But not critical in the sense that I now see postmodernism as a fairly accurate label for my positions.

I've had the benefit of having studied and written about postmodernism from psychological, religious/spiritual, and philosophical viewpoints. One of my selected areas of professional interest and specialization is the history and systems of psychology. The "systems" part is philosophical foundation of these different approaches to psychology. In the past several years, I've intensely studied the systems of psychology with the intend of deconstructing these theories in order to better understand their basic beliefs and values.

I have also published and presented papers relevant to postmodernism and been active in professional dialogues about postmodernism. Through this process, I've been exposed to a great variety of perspectives on postmodernism, some of which do not fit with the position taken on this web site. Others fit very well. This dialogue, in my beliefs, is one of the most important aspects of learning about postmodernism.

So, does this qualify me to write the content of this web site? I don't know. I guess, that's up to the individual to decide. I should add, though, that this is not a scholarly web site in the typical academic understanding (with the exception of the links to the papers I have written). It is not peer reviewed and is not written exclusively for a professional or scholarly audience. This is a web site by a professional with a background in postmodernism offering his perspective on what postmodernism is for what it is worth. I hope it is informative in helping a variety of individuals understand postmodernism. I leave it to you, the reader, to determine the value of the web site.

 

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