Self-Knowledge in Eastern and Western Philosophies

FAIN: EH-256886-17

College of Charleston (Charleston, SC 29424-0001)
Christian Coseru (Project Director: March 2017 to March 2021)
Evan Thompson (Co Project Director: August 2017 to March 2021)
Jay L. Garfield (Co Project Director: August 2017 to March 2021)

A two-week institute for twenty-five college and university faculty exploring the different ways in which self-knowledge is understood in Indian philosophical traditions and modern Western philosophy.

Self-knowledge raises difficult questions concerning the object of self-knowledge, the importance of self-knowledge to moral agency, responsibility, and decision-making, and the impact of various forms of moral and mental cultivation on self-knowledge. These questions arise in a variety of the world’s great intellectual traditions, including the many philosophical traditions of India, in particular Buddhism, and of Western cognitive science and its allied philosophy of mind. The best approach to these problems is therefore interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, and this Institute proposes to provide such a multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural forum. The aim of this project is to help university teachers developing curricula to incorporate the insights that emerge from addressing these questions in diverse traditions and settings.

Associated Products

Institute website and program (Web Resource)
Title: Institute website and program
Author: Christian Coseru
Abstract: This Institute provides such a multi-disciplinary cross-cultural forum. It focuses specifically on the exchange between Indian and Buddhist philosophy, analytic philosophy of mind, cognitive science, phenomenology, and existential philosophy.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: http://www.self-knowledge-neh.com

Consciousness, Free Will, and the Sense of Agency (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Sense of Agency
Author: Christian Coseru, Anita Avramides
Abstract: This conference addresses the connections between consciousness, free will, and the sense of agency. The conference brings together researchers from various disciplines, including, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, sociology, and medical history, to present and discuss a range of perspectives: (i) empirical and conceptual questions concerning the neural correlates of consciousness and intentional action; (ii) the theory of mind debate and the varieties of consciousness; and (iii) the implications of empirical data on folk intuitions about agency and moral responsibility. Contributions from cognitive neuroscience focus on the dynamic regulation of perception and cognition by memory and attention, and on the neural mechanisms that underpin anticipation and choice. Contributions from philosophy address the conceptual problem of other minds, embodied cognition and the extended mind thesis, and the phenomenology of moral experience. And contributions from medical historians and sociologists examine the impact that disorders of consciousness and a diminished sense of agency can have on the health and well-being of vulnerable groups in low- and middle-income countries.
Date: 09/20/18
Primary URL: https://philevents.org/event/show/65574

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