The Psychologist Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow is usually introduced as the man who developed the “hierarchy of needs,” but that little text-book introduction, his “footnote” in history, completely ignores his massive theoretical contribution to psychology specifically, and the social sciences in general. To put it bluntly, he was a humanistic psychologist trying to build a usable utopia: not a fantasy of perfection, but an empirical account of the conditions under which human beings become less fearful, less cruel, more creative, and more fully themselves. His word for this was “eupsychia” — the good society. This motivation ran through his work on motivation, self-actualization, peak experiences, synergy, Eupsychian management, education, and even religion.

The through-line was radical for mid-century psychology, and still is. If you want to write a psychology of peace, love, and human potential, stop asking only what makes people sick and start asking what makes people healthy, generous, good, and capable of peace.

The motivation for that Utopian theory came, by Maslow’s own account, from a vision. After Pearl Harbor, driving home, his car was stopped by what he called a “poor, pathetic parade.” Watching it, he began to cry; he felt that “we didn’t understand” Hitler, the Germans, Stalin, or the Communists — and that if we could understand human nature, progress might be possible. Then came the image that redirected his life: “a peace table,” with people sitting around it talking about how to create the good society. Maslow said he realized that the rest of his life must be devoted to “discovering a psychology for the peace table.” And that is exactly what he did. He tried to build a psychology of the peace table (Maslow, 1969).

Interestingly, Maslow believed he had done it. He answered the question and had even proposed a basic foundation for moving forward. In a 1969, in an article for the journal Transpersonal Psychology ¹ entitled “The Farthest Reaches of Human Nature,” Maslow wrote

It is increasingly clear that a philosophical revolution is underway. A comprehensivee system is swiftly developoing like a fruit tree beginning to bear fruit on every branch at the same time. Every field of sience and human endeavor is being affected.
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There is now available a new conception, of a higher possibility, of the healthy society. There are tools now available to judge and compare societies. One society can be judged to be better than another society, or healthier or possessing more ‘growth-fostering-potential.’ We can talk about the value of the society, or the function of the society-that is, the greatest coming to fulfillment of the people in the society. This [Lightning Path](https://www.lightningpath.org) web space collects popular, grounded, accessible articles on Maslow's utopian vision, theory, and any research that supports it. Select articles are published in the webmagazine, The Peace Table (find its currently URL [here](https://spiritwiki.lightningpath.org/index.php/Peace_Table)). If you'd like to write a grounded, accessible, 800 to 1200 word article on any aspect of Maslow's utopian theorization, or perhaps serve as editor of the publication, send to Mike Sosteric ([email protected]) with the header "Peace Table Submission," ## Endnotes 1. The Journal of *Transpersonal Psychology*, despite its devotion to things of a "transpersonal" nature, remains stubbornly locked behind a paywall. The owners of this journal should be ashamed of themselves, especially considering the sorry state of the world today. If they need money to operate the journal, having a rolling window. Lock the last two years of the publication behind a paywall, but open the archive to the public. ## References Maslow AH (1969a) The Farthest Reaches of Human Nature. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1(1), 1–9