Overview
In the past decade, innovations in imaging technology have provided scientists with a virtual window
into the brain. The research results made possible by such a glimpse into this previously unknown
landscape have overshadowed normative concepts of mind and spawned a host of new ideas concerning
human consciousness. Nevertheless, an ”explanatory gap“ persists between mind
and body. The trouble, it seems, is how to reconcile one’s subjective first-person experience (what
philosopher Thomas Nagel describes as ‘what it is like to be. . .’) with the newly accessible
objective third-person perspective.
Better known as the ”mind-body problem,“ it is a philosophical debate that
raises many intriguing and important questions about personal identity, self-consciousness, memory,
intentionality, causation, psycho-physical well-being, and more. It is little wonder this problem
has remained an important cross-cultural topic of conversation between scientists, doctors, and
philosophers alike.
The much publicized "neuroscience of meditation" spoken of by the Dalai Lama during his address to
the Society of Neuroscience at their annual meeting in Washington D.C. (2005), has shaken up the
scientific community. New findings show that long-term meditation can literally alter the structure
and function of the human brain ( see PNAS | November 16, 2004 | vol. 101 | no. 46 ).
Far less
attention, however, has been given to the philosophical underpinnings of such practices. While
distinctions between what we might call "theory" and "method" are familiar parlance to
post-Enlightenment modes of inquiry, they are not categories that are indigenous to Buddhism and
Hinduism. As such, by imposing these categories blindly, there exists the certain danger of the
intellectual blind spot, i.e. the creation of a methodology that overlooks the unique way in which
these categories are transformed and somewhat interrelated within these traditions, a relationship
which could provide a novel approach to the contemporary problem of consciousness.
To mitigate such
potential missteps and to illuminate such potentially vital connections, participants of the Mind
& Reality Symposium were asked to discuss in various detail the great ideas and practices of
Hinduism and Buddhism in context of contemporary consciousness studies.
Commencing with a brilliant
keynote address from philosopher Owen Flanagan entitled "Science for Monks: Buddhism and Science,"
Saturday’s panels were generally geared toward issues of "theory." Panel I took up the topic of
epistemology and the ways in which thinkers—cross-culturally—establish knowledge. Panel II
was concerned with phenomenology and focused on the subjective experience of being. Ending
the day was Panel III, which turned to ontology and what constitutes wisdom. Sunday morning
Buddhologist B. Alan Wallace delivered a riveting keynote address entitled ”Naturalizing
the Mind.“ Panels on this day considered the "methodological" dimension and the
application of theory in practice. Panel IV was dedicated to meditation and Panel V examined
ethics.
For a detailed schedule of events, please scroll down.
Itinerary
| SATURDAY - FEBRUARY 25, 2006 | ||
| 08:30-08:45 | Opening Remarks | Paul Gailey |
| 08:45-09:45 | Keynote Address: “Science for Monks: Buddhism & Science” | Owen Flanagan |
| 10:00-12:00 | Panel I: Knowledge | Ned Block • SusanCarey • Georges B. J. Dreyfus • Stephen H. Phillips • Gary Tubb |
| 01:30-03:30 | Panel II: Experience | Joseph LeDoux • Mark Siderits • Evan Thompson • Robert Van Gulick • William Waldron |
| 03:45-05:45 | Panel III: Wisdom | Paul Gailey • Piet Hut • W. Teed Rockwell • Robert A. F. Thurman • Gary Tubb |
| SUNDAY - FEBRUARY 26, 2006 | ||
| 08:45-09:45 | Keynote Address: “Naturalizing the Mind” | B. Alan Wallace |
| 10:00-12:00 | Panel IV: Meditation | Roger Jackson • Thubten Jinpa • Anne Klein • Joseph Loizzo • Mark Siderits |
| 01:30-03:30 | Panel V: Ethics | Jay Garfield • Robert Pollack • Gareth Sparham • Evan Thompson • Edith Wyschogrod |
| 03:45-04:45 | Closing Panel | Owen Flanagan •Paul Gailey • Anne Klein • Teed Rockwell • Evan Thompson |
| 04:45-05:00 | Closing Remarks | Robert Pollack |
|
|