Critical Subjectivity in the New Field of Contemplative Studies

Abstract

This article argues for incorporating “critical subjectivity,” developed within the emerging interdisciplinary field of Contemplative Studies, into academic scholarship in the humanities and the sciences. Drawing on the author’s intellectual formation through mentors in Chinese philosophy, Buddhist studies, and contemplative practice, it challenges the conventional ideal of purely objective scholarship and contends that all research is inevitably shaped by subjective perspectives. Rather than attempting to eliminate subjectivity, the article proposes a disciplined and self-aware approach that critically examines and refines it. The theoretical foundation for this approach is developed within Brown University’s Contemplative Studies program’s “integrative contemplative pedagogy,” which combines traditional third-person academic analysis with first-person experiential engagement in contemplative practices. Building on work in phenomenology, cognitive science, and contemplative traditions, the author outlines four complementary epistemologies: third-person, second-person, first-person, and a proposed fourth mode, “no-person” epistemology, derived from Chan and Zen traditions. This non-self-referential mode of awareness is supported by contemporary neuroscientific and psychological research. The article concludes that integrating these epistemological perspectives can foster a more rigorous, reflective, and less biased scholarship capable of addressing the complexities of consciousness and human experience.