Writings About
Alan Watts

Numerous scholars have written about the works of Alan Watts in academic journals, books, and dissertations.

Academic Books (About Watts)

1978 — The Pantheism of Alan Watts, by David K. Clark.

1986 — Into Every Life a Little Zen Must Fall: A Christian Philosopher Looks to Alan Watts and the East, by Alan Keightley.

1988 — Everywhere and Nowhere: The Path of Alan Watts, by Michael C. Brannigan.

2012 — Alan Watts—Here and Now: Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion, edited by Peter. J. Columbus and Donadrian L Rice.

2017 — Alan Watts—In the Academy: Essays and Lectures, edited by Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice

 

 

Academic Journal Articles (About Watts)

Solomon, L. N. E. (1962). A Symposium on Human Values. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 2(2): pp. 89-111.

Gorham, D. R. (1963). The New World of Superconsciousness—A Book Review of The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness by Alan W. Watts, Timothy Leary, and Richard Alpert (1962). Contemporary Psychology, 8(1): 22-23.

Brannigan, M. C. (1977). Alan Watts’ Metaphysical Language: Positivity in Negative Concepts. Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica, 8: pp. 341-350.

Nordstrom, L. and Pilgrim, R. (1980). The Wayward Mysticism of Alan Watts. Philosophy East and West, 30(3): pp. 381-401.

Brannigan, M. C. (1982). The Theory of Non-Duality in the Philosophy of Alan Watts. Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 13: pp. 241-251.

Klee, J. B. (1986). Communing with Alan Watts. The Humanistic Psychologist, 14(2): pp. 118-119.

Columbus, P. J. (1985). A Response to Nordstrom and Pilgrim’s Critique of Alan Watts’ Mysticism. The Humanistic Psychologist, 13(1): pp. 28-34.

Fischer, C. T. (2012). Review of Alan Watts—Here and Now: Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion. Choice, November: p. 462.

Gordon, S. (2012). Existential Time and the Meaning of Human Development. The Humanistic Psychologist, 40(1): pp. 79-86.

Heide, F. J. (2013). A Lamp Unto Himself: Alan Watts and the Illumination of Spirit—A Book Review of Alan Watts—Here and Now: Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion [P. J. Columbus and D. L. Rice (Eds.)] PsycCRITIQUES 58(1): article 7.

Smith, D. L. (2014). How to be a Genuine Fake: Her, Alan Watts, and the Problem of the Self. Journal of Religion & Film, 18(2).

Bennett, J. (2015). Alan Watts’ ‘Dramatic Model’ and the Pursuit of Peace. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 335-344.

Chase, C. W. (2015). Square Gnosis, Beat Eros: Alan Watts and the Occultism of Aquarian Religion. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 322-334.

Cohen, K. S. (2015). You Can Tell a Yogi by His Laugh: Reminiscences of Alan Watts’ Last Summer. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 299-310.

Columbus, P. J. (2015). Alan Watts: A Bibliographic Resource. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 354-358.

Columbus, P. J. (2015). Special Theme Symposium: Alan Watts. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 295-297.

Columbus, P. J. (2015). Psychotherapy East and West: A Retrospective Review, Part I – 1961–1970. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 345-353.

Ferlinghetti, L. (2015). Litany (for Alan Watts). Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 298-298.

Gordon, S. (2015). Alan Watts and Neurophenomenology. Self & Society, 43(4): pp. 311-321.

Columbus, P. J. (2017). “Guest Editor’s Introduction: Alan Watts, again.” Self & Society, 45(3-4): 231-232.

Columbus, P. J. (2017). “Psychotherapy East and West: a retrospective review, part II.” Self & Society, 45(3-4): 276-282.

Franklin, E. F. and P. J. Columbus (2017). “Jung Watts: notes on C.G. Jung’s formative influence on Alan Watts.” Self & Society, 45(3-4): 267-275.

Garrett-Farb, B. (2017). An Aesthetic Appreciation of Alan Watts. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 57(1): pp. 33-63

Ostdiek, G. (2017). “Alan Watts and secular competence in religious praxis.” Self & Society, 45(3-4): 256-266.

Sanders, C. J. (2017). “Alan Watts and the re-visioning of psychotherapy.” Self & Society, 45(3-4): 244-255.

Shipley, M. (2017). “‘A critique of culture’: Alan Watts, psychedelic Buddhism, and religious play in postwar America.” Self & Society, 45(3-4): 233-243.

Theses & Dissertations (About Watts)

Vestal, D. G. (1974). A Comparative Study of Representative Emphases in the Thought of Alan Watts and Francis Schaeffer. (Theological doctoral dissertation). (0297062)

Brannigan, M. C. (1977). From Illusion to Insight. The Evolution from Ego-Consciousness to Self-Consciousness in the Philosophy of Alan W. Watts. (Doctoral dissertation).

O’Donnell, R. A. (1978). Alan Watts: Zen, Language, and Philosophy. (Master’s thesis).

Hinz, W. (1991). Alan Watts’ Theological Anthropology and its Implications for Religious Education. (Master’s thesis).

Masi, W. (2015). The Gospel, Reinvented: A New Addition to the Jesus of Alan Watts. University of Southern Maine. (Undergraduate thesis)

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