Matthieu Ricard and Wolf Singer’s Beyond the Self: Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience
Cerebrum November 1, 2017 P. Zak
A book review describes how two friends—a Buddhist monk with a background in molecular biology and a distinguished neuroscientist—offer their perspectives on the mind, self, consciousness, the unconscious, free will, epistemology, meditation, and neuroplasticity. The review notes that Buddhism has pursued direct investigation of the mind through introspection for two millennia, while neuroscience relies on third-person scientific observation. The book presents dialogues between these two approaches, examining how each tradition can inform the other.