LOGICAL ANALYSES OF VIPASSANĀ MEDITATION
C. P. Hertogh
Contemporary Buddhism July 3, 2018 DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2018.1498604 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Vipassanā Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that Vipassanā Meditation can be formally reconstructed as a modus ponens or universal instantiation and understood as a spiritual thought experiment akin to huàtóus and kōans, with its enthymematic argument from the Sutta-nipāta completed by explicating a hidden major premise. Proposes that the thought experiment inference may be enabled by a faculty like mindfulness, and links the practice to philosophical arguments such as Ibn Sīnā's Flying Man and Descartes's Cogito. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT In this paper we propose logical analyses of Vipassanā Meditation as modus ponens or universal instantiation, as based upon identification, analysis, and interpretation of the meditation as a (spiritual) thought experiment (STE like e.g. huàtóus and kōans in Chan and Zen).* The analyses consist in completing the unfinished enthymematic argument of the Sutta-nipāta by explication of hidden major. We speculate the thought experiment inference might be brought about by a faculty like mindfulness. The thought experiment analyses link the meditation to global cross-cultural theories and arguments in philosophy as Ibn Sīnā’s Flying Man and, notably, René Descartes’s Cogito. Last, we will give some indications how Vipassanā Meditation may be explained with help of western theories of consciousness.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |