Consciousness Quest: Where East Meets West / Edition 1

by J.P. Das

Overview

Consciousness is an active area of both philosophical debates and scientific research. Consciousness Quest, rather than covering the broad spectrum of consciousness spread over multiple scientific disciplines, refocuses the quest for consciousness on a specific area where Eastern contemplative traditions, mostly in Hindu and Buddhist theories of mind, meet Western empirical research. This book is an introduction to current scientific thinking and research on consciousness and at the same time acquaints readers with the spectrum of classical and modern philosophical notions on consciousness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788132113492
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/17/2019
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

J.P. Das is an Indo-Canadian psychologist and an internationally recognized expert in Intelligence. Among his major contributions to psychology is the PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive) theory of intelligence. He is currently engaged in expanding planning to include executive functions. What might be the implications of these higher mental activities for education as well as management behavior is the topic of this book.

Professor Das is an Emeritus Director of the Centre on Developmental & Learning Disabilities (named after him) at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and Emeritus Professor in Educational Psychology. He has authored and co-authored over a dozen of books and contributed more than 300 research papers to international journals and edited volumes. His earlier published titles with SAGE include Cognitive Planning: The Psychological Basis of Intelligent Behaviour (1996, co-authored with Binod C. Kar and Rauno K. Parrila); The Working Mind (1998); Reading Difficulties and Dyslexia: An Interpretation for Teachers (2009); and Consciousness Quest: East Meets West (2014).

Table of Contents

Foreword K Ramakrishna Rao
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Concept of Consciousness and Indian Theories of Mind
Cognition, Neuropsychology, and Consciousness
Experience of Consciousness: Eastern Phenomenology
Explanations from Neuroscience
Consciousness and Meditation: At the Intersection of Eastern Traditions and Neuroscience
Foundations of Mindfulness
Interpretations of Mindfulness
A Comparison of Two Cognitive Processing Models: The Abhidhamma and PASS
Contemporary Western Research: From Julian Jaynes to Eckhart Tolle
Talking about Consciousness, Self-knowledge, Access, and Sentience
Materialism and Behaviorism in Eastern Philosophy and Western Psychology
Material Basis of Consciousness
Origin and Uses of Consciousness: In the Beginning Is Its End
Hard Problems: Legacy of Ancient Times
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A remarkable and fascinating book, explores the entire spectrum of classical and modern philosophical notions and debates the role of scientific research in understanding consciousness...a unique repository of knowledge on one of the most sought after yet the most elusive subject. Both the future and present generation of thinkers will find here a mine of authentic information, knowledge and wisdom...research scholars and students of philosophy, psychology and human behaviour will find the book extremely useful.

The Tribune