Event Detail

Indian Buddhist philosophers associated with the pramāṇavāda (logico-epistemological) school developed an account of mind and cognition that I term ‘dual-aspect reflexivism’. On this view, conscious awareness is reflexive or self-presenting in that it always involves awareness of awareness. Further, a typical episode of conscious cognition involves the presentation of an object and aspects of that very cognition itself. Thus, a typical episode of conscious cognition will involve a dual-aspect (dvairūpya) structure of presentation within the context of reflexive awareness (svasaṃvedana). The first part of my talk will explore these ideas in the context of the Indian philosophical tradition. In the second part, I will examine these ideas in the context of cross-cultural philosophy of mind, with particular attention to issues of self-consciousness, subjectivity, intentionality, and the sense of self.