Stephen
Palmquist was born in
In October of 1980, Palmquist left the
sunny shores of
After several years of additional
editing, Palmquist published a significantly revised version of his doctoral
thesis as Kant's System of
Perspectives: An Architectonic Interpretation of the Critical Philosophy
(Lanham: University Press of America, 1993). The most significant revision was
the decision to split this study of Kant into four separate volumes, with the
first focusing on the Critical philosophy and the other three looking, in turn,
at the metaphysical implications of the three ideas of reason (God, freedom,
and immortality). The second volume in this study appeared seven years later,
published as: Kant's Critical
Religion: Volume Two of Kant's System of Perspectives (
Palmquist took up a teaching position in
September of 1987, at Hong Kong
Baptsit University, where he now holds the post of Professor and is the
longest-serving member of the Department of Religion and Philosophy. He
lectures in English, supplemented with Cantonese as needed, on a wide variety of subjects
in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and religious studies. Currently his
main teaching responsibilities are: Introduction to Philosophy; Religion,
Psychology and Personal Growth; Philosophy of Love; and Hermeneutics.
Meanwhile, Palmquist has written
numerous scholarly articles,
mostly on various aspects of Kant's philosophy, published mostly in
international journals of philosophy and/or religion. Aside from Kant, his
research interests include depth psychology (especially Jung), philosophy of
love, philosophical anthropology, mysticism, logic, theology of politics, and
philosophy of religion.
Through the years Palmquist has come to
see his scholarly work in terms of "philopsychy", or "soul-loving".
The inspiration for this neologism originally came from the examples set by
Kant (whose self-confessed love of the metaphysical ideas of God, human
freedom, and the soul's immortality, informed everything he wrote) and by the
psychologist Carl Jung (who once called himself "a lover of the
soul").
In September of 1992, after a series of
frustrating experiences dealing with commercial publishers, Palmquist started a
small publishing company, called Philopsychy Press. The
purpose of this company is to promote a respectable "middle path
"between the extremes of royalty and subsidy (so-called
"vanity")publishing: namely, "author-publishing". So, in
addition to publishing Palmquist's own books, Philopsychy Press offers to
provide advice and assistance to others who wish to publish and distribute
their own works, without having to go through the formalities of starting their
own company. So far, the Press has published five of Palmquist's books (called The Waters of Love, The Tree of Philosophy [four
editions], Dreams of Wholeness, Four Neglected Essays by
Immanuel Kant, and Biblical
Theocracy) and one book by Keith Palmer, (called A Somewhat Skeptical
Philosophy).
Since attending the Third International
Conference on Philosophical Practice (New York, July 1997), where he read a
paper on philosophical counseling, Palmquist has become very interested in the
movement known as "Philosophical Practice". In this connection, he
founded the Hong Kong Philosophy
Cafe in July of 1999, which has now become a thriving organisation with
five branches. Having founded the Center
for Insight into Philosophic Health, Education and Renewal (CIPHER) in late
1997, he began organising philosophical retreats on a ten acre parcel of forest
near Mendocino California, with the first retreat taking place in January of
2001.
Steve travels frequently to
Back to Steve Palmquist's home page
This page was last updated on 21 June
2007.