In this episode of the Integration podcast, Mark Edwards joins Brendan Graham Dempsey and Nick Hedlund for an in-depth conversation on metatheory, meta-studies, and why methodological rigor is essential for navigating the global metacrisis. Edwards, one of the most influential contemporary scholars in integrative meta-studies, clarifies what metatheory is (and is not), why “big pictures” require disciplined methods, and how meta-studies can function as a kind of earth-system social science.

Key themes include the distinction between method and methodology, the role of absence and critique in generating new metatheoretical lenses, and the limits of progress-oriented and altitude-based frameworks. Edwards also reflects on epistemic humility, domain specificity, and pluralism — particularly the importance of taking indigenous and non-Western knowledge systems seriously in big-picture theorizing.

The discussion culminates in a wide-ranging reflection on the metacrisis, understood not only as a systems failure but as a planetary-scale trauma response, and on the future of meta-studies as a field grounded in what Edwards calls disciplined imagination.

0:00 Introduction

3:55 What Is Metatheory (and Why It Matters Now)

04:17 “Meta-Studies” as a …

10:51 Why Methodology Is the Missing Piece in Metatheory

13:52 Method vs Methodology

15:58 Scientific Methods for Metatheory

17:56 George Ritzer’s Four Functions of Metatheorising

19:50 From Meta-Methodology to Meta-Validity

21:18 Metatheory as a Human Universal

24:16 Moving Beyond Canonical “Great Thinkers” to Discover New Lenses

24:16 Absence as a Driver of Innovation in Metatheory

35:59 Integrating Across Domains Without Losing Rigor

42:08 The Problem with Altitude: Critiquing Progress-Oriented Metatheories

47:11 Indigenous Worldviews and the Problem with Cultural Stages

51:47 The Metacrisis and the Need for Metatheory

59:49 The Future of Meta-Studies: Disciplined Imagination