Rethinking Self-Understanding in the Age of AI: From Reflective Outcome to Pre-Configured Self-Understanding
Religions June 29, 2026 DOI: 10.3390/rel17070781 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Comparative philosophical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Keywords | Experiential learning Contemplation Outcome game theory Agency philosophy Qualitative comparative analysis Control management Grounded theory Epistemology Cognitive psychology Psychotherapist Process computing Visibility Qualitative research Structure and agency Duration music Key lock Theme computing Reflective practice Innovative human-technology interaction |
| Key points | Argues that traditional meditation operates as a structure of conditional disclosure, whereas AI-mediated systems pre-configure conditions through algorithmic classification and interface design, reshaping contemplative agency and the formation of self-understanding. |
Abstract
This study reconceptualizes self-understanding not as a reflective outcome but as a conditionally constituted process grounded in the Buddhist principle of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda). Adopting a comparative philosophical analysis, it examines how traditional meditation and AI-mediated meditation differently configure the conditions under which experience and self-understanding arise. Drawing on early Buddhist texts, Madhyamaka philosophy, and classical meditation theory, the study develops an analytical framework centered on conditions, interdependence, non-self, and the processes of arising, transformation, and cessation. The analysis shows that traditional meditation operates as a structure of conditional disclosure, in which practitioners observe the dynamic interplay of experiential conditions. By contrast, the AI-mediated systems examined in this study tend to pre-configure these conditions through algorithmic classification, procedural guidance, and interface design. In such contexts, self-understanding is increasingly shaped through technologically mediated interpretations. The findings suggest that the key distinction lies not in the presence of conditions themselves but in the visibility and configurational control of those conditions. This study contributes a theoretical framework for understanding how digital environments may reshape contemplative agency and the conditions under which self-understanding is formed.