Understanding Selfhood to Elucidate the Phenomenology of Mindfulness
Joe Higgins
Philosophia February 26, 2022 DOI: 10.1007/s11406-022-00481-4 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation Philosophy of mind |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Argues that an enactive, "socio-embodied" account of selfhood is needed to understand how mindfulness produces its health benefits, and that the need for mindfulness is greatest during socio-embodied fluctuations across life stages. Proposes that mindfulness lets one dwell in the sensuous density of the present while remaining connected to a social world of open possibilities. |
Abstract
Abstract The health benefits of practising mindfulness are well documented, yet the phenomenological mechanisms of such practice remain under-theorised from both ontogenetic and social perspectives. By leveraging an enactive perspective on selfhood, these lacunae can be addressed: firstly, it is argued that proper understanding of mindfulness – and the health benefits that mindfulness practices seek – relies on recognising thesocio-embodiednature of the self; consequently, occasions in which the therapeutic need for mindfulness are most pressing will be shown to be inextricably tied to socio-embodied fluctuations across different stages of life. What emerges is a phenomenological understanding of mindfulness as allowing one to dwell in the sensuous density of the present and, through this, remain connected to the social world of open possibilities.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 6
- Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 28, 2007
- The psychological and neurophysiological concomitants of mindfulness forms of meditation Acta Neuropsychiatrica April 1, 2007
- The impact of mindfulness on well-being and performance in the workplace: an inclusive systematic review of the empirical literature European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology April 19, 2017
- Mind and material engagement. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 2019
- Phenomenological Research Needs to be Renewed: Time to Integrate Enactivism as a Flexible Resource International Journal of Qualitative Methods 2021
and 1 more in the library