Philosophy in practice.

On November 5, 2011, we formed the Philosophic Systems Institute (PSI, pronounced “sigh” after the 23rd letter of the ancient Greek alphabet, represented in our logo) with the goal of using philosophical inquiry to address fundamental problems in the greater El Paso area. The idea was to develop programs in systemic partnerships that advance positive impacts in our communities.

After a series of programmatic pilots and ongoing discussions within research groups, work supported from its inception by the El Paso Community Foundation, one space for open inquiry emerged as a potential educational game changer: the Shadows to Light program for people who had been incarcerated for federal offenses. Shadows to Light is now, more than ten years later, a recognized humanities-based treatment program offering a space for transformation for returning citizens, focused on problem-solving life skills, critical thinking, higher learning techniques, and social and emotional skills. It is an integrated component of the Sendero program, the only Federal Reentry program in the Western District of Texas, and of the Adelante program, the first Federal Diversion program in the United States to offer participants a full dismissal of charges upon completion.

Around 2015, in partnership with the El Paso Community Foundation and a local school district, we created Artstream, a project that front-ended the arts within elementary schools to foster creativity, active and empowered self-learning habits, and the ability to think creatively the way an artist or a scientist does at work.

In 2015 we added a second research group, which led to the development of our own logic system, ∂∫ Difference Logic, now used in our learning spaces and throughout our learning and systems programs.

In 2020, we partnered with HOME, formerly the Housing Authority of El Paso, to develop Transformative Learning Community programs for low-income communities. In 2022 we started the Lightstream program for young adults in partnership with the Juvenile Probation Department, modeled after the adult Shadows to Light program.