Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy

Joseph Loizzo (Nalanda Institute)

"Personal Agency Across Generations:
Evolutionary Psychology or Religious Belief?"
 

Although the authors of modern scientific psychology agreed on precious little, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung both insisted that any complete science of psychology requires some way to explain the intergenerational inheritance of character traits or personal habits of mind and action. Yet neither they nor their heirs in contemporary philosophy, psychology or cognitive science have been able to provide a plausible conceptual framework, much less a mechanism to account for the conservation of patterns of personal agency across multiple lives.

Dr. Joseph Loizzo (MD, PhD) believes there is a role in contemporary philosophy and psychology for an "intergenerational" theory of human development and personal agency that is informed by the Buddhist theory of karma. In this lecture Loizzo applies both a scientific reading of karma and a Buddhist approach to some of the metaphysical and metapsychological problems caused by the divergence of modern science and religion in the West.

Copyright © 2008 CSCP. All rights reserved.

Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen)
Evan Thompson (University of Toronto)
Georges B.J. Dreyfus (Williams College)
John Dunne (Emory University)

Saturday, March 1, 2008
301 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University
Venue information >>
Event Program >>

(Scroll down to view video footage)

Does all conscious experience involve some kind of self-awareness? Is consciousness fundamentally “egological” (being constituted by an ego, or sense of “I”)? Is it possible to reconcile a view of consciousness that takes the first-personal dimension seriously with a non-egological position?

A recent trend in Analytical philosophy of mind is to argue that consciousness essentially involves intransitive self-consciousness, in addition to transitive (object-directed) consciousness. In Continental phenomenology, this thesis derives from Brentano and is central to Husserl’s thought. Though this issue has prompted some discussion between these two traditions, very little attention has been paid to philosophical discourse in the Indo-Tibetan tradition in which issues of selfhood are of greatest concern.

The time has come for dialogue and debate.

As part of a year-long series of lectures focused on Personal Identity Across Traditions, the Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy convened a panel discussion aimed at exploring egological and non-egological theories for consciousness in Buddhist and non-Buddhist thought.

This event was held on the campus of Columbia University (301 Philosophy Hall) on Saturday March 1, 2008. It was made possible through generous funding from Columbia University Seminars and also the Graduate Student Advisory Council.

(Special thanks to Robert Belknap and Alice Newton at University Seminars.)

Video clip 1 of 8: Mark Siderits (CSCP Chair)

In this video Mark Siderits (CSCP Chair) opens the panel discussion with a brief description of the topic — egological and non-egological approaches to consciousness. Professor Siderits also introduces each panelist and their respective fields of study.

 

Video clip 2 of 8: Evan Thompson (University of Toronto) 

The philosopher Evan Thompson (University of Toronto) examines the viability of the Buddhist theory of no-self to the problem of consciousness. His approach contrasts Buddhists ideas with the those from western phenomenology (i.e. Edmund Husserl and Jean-Paul Sartre).

 

Video clip 3 of 8: Georges B.J. Dreyfus

Georges B. J. Dreyfus (Williams College) relates some of the Buddhist views of consciousness to contemporary philosophical discussions. His presentation traverses the Indian schools of Abhidharma and Yogācāra, as well the work of western thinkers such as Dan Zahavi, Miri Albahari, and Antonio Damasio. Dreyfus asserts that it is time to "rehabilitate the notion of experience and to avoid assuming that its use necessarily leads to a crypto-theological project mired in hopeless metaphysics." He maintains that this is equally important to both the study of Buddhism and western philosophy.

 

Video clip 4 of 8: John Dunne

The Buddhologist John Dunne (Emory University) sheds light on Buddhist epistemology and the ways in which it might help inform western conceptions of mind and consciousness. In his presentation he translates the ideas of ancient Indian thinkers like Dharmakīrti (7th CE) and Dignāga (5th CE).

 

Video clip 5 of 8: Dan Zahavi

In this presentation entitled, "The Unity of consciousness and the problem of self," the philosopher Dan Zahavi probes whether the diachronic and synchronic unity of consciousness is conditioned by a unifying self? Zahavi examines Miri Albahari's distinction between a "sense of self" and "self" and draws on ideas from the western phenomenological tradition.

 

Video clip 6 of 8: Panel Discussion

At the conclusion of their individual presentations, Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen), Evan Thompson (University of Toronto), Georges B.J. Dreyfus (Williams College), and John Dunne (Emory University) engage in a profitable group-discussion on human consciousness.

 

Video clip 7 of 8: Question & Answer (part one)

In this session (Q&A part 1) the panelists Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen), Evan Thompson (University of Toronto), Georges B.J. Dreyfus (Williams College), and John Dunne (Emory University) discuss consciousness and open the floor to questions from the general public and CSCP members.

 

Video clip 8 of 8: Question & Answer (part two)

In this session (Q&A part 2) the panelists Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen), Evan Thompson (University of Toronto), Georges B.J. Dreyfus (Williams College), and John Dunne (Emory University) continue their group-discussion and answer more questions from the general public and CSCP members.

 

Copyright © 2008 CSCP. All rights reserved.