Buddhist and Western Philosophies of Mind

In this course we will examine traditional and contemporary Buddhist and Western philosophies of mind, comparing Cartesian mind-body dualism and contemporary materialism with Buddhist conceptions of mind, which seek a middle path between the two. Other topics include Buddhist and contemporary Western views of self; notions of the unconscious construction of reality; and recent scientific studies on meditation. We will read works by traditional authors such as Descartes and Vasubandhu, recent authors (e.g., the Dalai Lama and Owen Flanagan) who combine Buddhist and Western views, and articles on contemporary philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and phenomenology. The course will also include a practicum on meditation as a method for investigating consciousness directly. This course counts as elective credit towards the Religion major or as elective credit towards the Philosophy major.