Equanimity: The somatization of a moral sentiment from the eighteenth to late twentieth century.
Francis Mckay
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences July 16, 2019 DOI: 10.1002/jhbs.21990 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Keywords | Humans Emotions Morals History, 18th century History, 19th century History, 20th century Somatization Well-being Virtue ethics Equanimity |
| Key points | Argues that the perceived "de-ethicization" of mindfulness-based therapies stems from eighteenth-century changes in the ontological infrastructures supporting moral reasoning, through which natural-science research on nervous diseases, stress, and relaxation reframed equanimity as somatic physiological calm. Contends that because modern MBTs continue to somatize moral virtues, they raise questions about whether they foster human flourishing and well-being rather than the narrower notions of health and mental capital. |
Abstract
Over the past 40 years, mindfulness-based therapies (MBTs) have gained a reputation among the biomedical community for their ability to contribute to health, mental capital, and human flourishing. Recently, however, critical mindfulness scholars have questioned the moral import of MBTs, claiming that, in modernizing meditation, they strip Buddhist practices of their ethical and soteriological content. Inspired by Harrington and Dunne's (2015, p. 630) recent call to historicize this present discontent, I offer an account for this perceived "de-ethicization" of mindfulness, locating it in a long history of changes in the ontological infrastructures supporting moral reasoning from the eighteenth century onwards. Through the example of equanimity-a virtue that has been a part of Western and Eastern character ethics and theories of flourishing from the ancient period to the modern age-I show how, from the eighteenth century, research in the natural sciences on nervous diseases, stress, and relaxation, provided a frame for rethinking moral equanimity as a somatic experience of physiological calm. This transformation reaches its peak in the late twentieth century in research on mindfulness, which builds upon that tradition by folding into its ambit Eastern conceptions of equanimity as well. Insofar as modern MBTs continue to somatize moral virtues, I argue that they raise questions about the degree to which they are conducive to human flourishing and well-being, as opposed to the related but narrower notions of health and mental capital.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cites 12
- Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review July 26, 2011
- What does mindfulness really mean? A canonical perspective Contemporary Buddhism May 1, 2011
- On some definitions of mindfulness Contemporary Buddhism May 1, 2011
- Meditation as an intervention in stress reactivity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1976
- Mindfulness in cultural context Transcultural Psychiatry August 1, 2015
and 7 more in the library