RFLA 200H 03 - Mind and Meditation (CRN 10334)

This course will focus on accounts regarding how the self is constructed according to Buddhist philosophy, and Western philosophy of mind and cognitive science. We will examine what the philosopher Michel Foucault has referred to as “technologies of the self,” i.e., techniques that have been employed by individuals to “transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom.” So we will consider the construction of identities, and examine techniques that have been employed to function as mirrors and windows for the construction of self, through studying the theory of Buddhist meditation.