Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives

FAIN: EH-50292-11

College of Charleston (Charleston, SC 29424-0001)
Christian Coseru (Project Director: March 2011 to April 2016)
Evan Thompson (Co Project Director: March 2011 to March 2011)
Jay L. Garfield (Co Project Director: March 2011 to April 2016)

A two-week institute for twenty college and university faculty members on consciousness as understood in phenomenology, analytic philosophy, and Buddhist philosophy.

The two-week summer Institute “Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives” will bring together twenty college and university-level instructors with the aim of expanding their knowledge of this complex and rapidly evolving discourse: the convergence of analytic, phenomenological, and Buddhist perspectives in the investigation of consciousness. The chief intellectual objective is to provide a forum for an intensive exploration of six core issues in the philosophical study of consciousness: (1) the nature and function of phenomenal consciousness (the nature of immediate conscious experience); (2) the relation between consciousness and intentionality; (3) the nature of the contents of consciousness; (4) the character and types of consciousness; (5) the interplay between the biological, psychological, social and linguistic dimensions of conscious experience; (6) the methodology of cross-cultural investigation into subjects such as consciousness.