Much of the debate surrounding the relationship between mind and reality concerns the nature of both the content and properties of mental thought—what contemporary Western philosophers refer to as “intentionality” and “qualia.” As in the West, Buddhist and Hindu epistemologists from India and Tibet have studied mental events and cognition in terms of direct realism, representationalism, and phenomenalism. Within the relatively neutral framework of logic in ancient India, a system of validation known as valid cognition (pramāṇa) was employed to scrutinize the reliability of truth claims put forth by competing Nyāya, Mīmāṃsa, Jain, and Buddhist philosophers. In his seminal book on the ancient Indian logician Dharmakīrti, Georges B. J. Dreyfus contends that the pramana method provides a standard of validation—independent of religious or ideological backgrounds—that is useful for assessing the reliability of mental events.
On Saturday February 25th, 2006, Georges B. J. Dreyfus will be visiting Columbia University to present the target essay for Panel I: Knowledge in the upcoming Mind & Reality Symposium on Human Consciousness. Joining him to discuss this essay will be Stephen H. Phillips (Hindu philosophy), Ned Block (philosophy of mind), and Susan Carey (developmental psychology). The goal of this opening panel will be to contrast recent research on cognition and perception with insights from the epistemological traditions of India and Tibet. Gary A. Tubb, Dharam Hinduja Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit Teaching and Indic Research at Columbia, will be the moderator for this opening discussion.ༀ
Panelist Essays & Presentations:
• Georges Dreyfus’ target essay.
• Ned Block’s PowerPoint presentation.
• Susan Carey’s PowerPoint presentation.
• Stephen Phillips’ response essay.
Web:
• Paul Hackett’s review of Dreyfus’ book.
• Seth Casana’s (Carnegie Mellon University) animated thesis project.
Blogs:
• Song of Myself,“Ned Block is a Bad Ass”
• Neuroeconomics,“Harvard MBB Series”
• The Multiverse According to Ben,“Cognitive Neuroscience. . .”
• Act Systems & Services,“Indian Philo – A Small Look”
• i am the winternet!“IS”
※ And please visit the Mind & Reality website for details on the Symposium and audio webcast.
