The Nature of Consciousness
Presenter:
Dr. Evan Thompson
Time:
1:27:10
Summary
Thompson, a philosopher and cognitive scientist, discusses consciousness and embodied experience from the multiple perspectives of phenomenology, Buddhist philosophy, and cognitive science. He proposes that understanding consciousness as a natural phenomenon may require radically revising our scientific concept of nature, and discusses how “neurophenomenology,” which combines neuroscience and phenomenological investigations, can contribute to this effort.
Transcript
I want to welcome you and thank you for joining the conversation on this elusive subject of Consciousness, which is our topic this evening and continues with our presentations tomorrow morning. My name is Gendo Allenfield. I'm a lay ordained Zen Buddhist monk and teacher. I lead practice at the Upper Valley Zen Center in White River Junction and also at the Zen Practice Group here at Dartmouth College. This year, several of our Dartmouth Zen students are studying cognitive neuroscience, and from our conversations emerged the idea of a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural conference on the nature of Consciousness.
Professor Marcelo Glazer and his Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement, also known as ICE here at Dartmouth, seemed a natural partner for this effort, and his enthusiasm and backing have made this event possible. We are also indebted to Amy Flockton, administrator for ICE, and to Amy Zang, the Dartmouth senior who designed our poster. Is Amy here by any chance? [Music] I'm sorry, she's not here, but I was very pleased with her poster. I'm also indebted to the Tucker Foundation and Chaplain Deine Litvin for financial support, and to the Church of Christ at Dartmouth for the use of their Gathering Hall for our meditation, both this afternoon and also tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock.