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Finding the Way to Truth: Sources, History, and Impact of the Meditative Tradition
Finding the Way to Truth: Sources, History, and Impact of the Meditative Tradition @ Buell Hall, Columbia U
Feb 1 – Feb 2 all-day
How is the ancient exhortation to “know thyself” related to consolation, virtue, and the study of nature? How did the commitment to self-knowledge shift over the centuries in writings by Islamic, Jewish, Christian, and early modern natural philosophers? How did medieval women contribute to modern notions of self, self-knowledge, and knowledge of nature? This conference explores the meditative “reflective methodology” from its ancient roots, through medieval Christian, Muslim, and Jewish traditions to the so-called “new”[...]
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Buddha versus Popper: Do we live in the present or do we plan for the future? Rohit Parikh (CUNY) 4:10 pm
Buddha versus Popper: Do we live in the present or do we plan for the future? Rohit Parikh (CUNY) @ Faculty House, Columbia U
Feb 22 @ 4:10 pm
There are two approaches to life. The first one, which we are identifying with Sir Karl Popper, is to think before we act and to let our hypotheses die in our stead when the overall outcome is likely to be negative. We act now for a better future, and we think now which action will bring the best future. Both decision theory and backward induction are technical versions of this train of thought.  The second[...]
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Bryce Huebner: “Meditating and hallucinating: A socially situated and neuro-Yogācarin perspective” 6:00 pm
Bryce Huebner: “Meditating and hallucinating: A socially situated and neuro-Yogācarin perspective” @ Wolff Conference Room, D1103
Feb 28 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
A number of philosophers working on Buddhist traditions have recently explored similarities between the cultivated experience of not-self, and the clinical experience of depersonalization. In this talk, I will offer some reflections on this theme. But my primary aim will be to push a similar kind of exploratory project one step further. Drawing on tools from cognitive and computational neuroscience, as well as insights from Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy, I will explore some of the most[...]