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Contemporary Philosophy of Mind and Buddhist Thought

John Spackman

Philosophy Compass October 1, 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00506.x (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Buddhism Philosophy of mind
Citations 5
Key points Argues that existing models for integrating Buddhist thought into philosophy of mind face significant challenges, and proposes a model derived from Nāgārjuna as a potentially more viable alternative.

Abstract

Abstract Recent years have seen a growing interest in Buddhist thought as a potential source of alternative conceptions of the nature of the mind and the relation between the mental and the physical. This article considers and assesses three different models of what contemporary philosophy of mind can learn from Buddhist thought. One model, advocated by Alan Wallace, holds that we can learn from Buddhist meditation that both individual consciousness and the physical world itself emerge from a deeper, “primordial” consciousness. A second model, supported by Owen Flanagan, maintains that we should accept from Buddhist thought only what is compatible with physicalism, and thus draws from Buddhism only insights into moral psychology and spirituality. Evan Thompson has developed a third, phenomenological approach, which derives from Buddhism a non‐dualistic account of the relation between the mental and the physical, dissolving the “explanatory gap” between them. I suggest that all of these models face significant challenges, and propose a different model derived from the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna, which shows the potential to resolve some of the challenges facing contemporary theories of consciousness.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. 2006 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience 1995 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being 2005 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World 2017 Theoretical or philosophical paper
From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory 2016 Theoretical or philosophical paper

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Cited by 3

Cites 4

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Buddhism Philosophy of mind Meditation