开始时间: 04/22/2022 持续时间: Unknown
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所在平台: CourseraArchive 课程类别: 人文 大学或机构: Princeton University（普林斯顿大学） 授课老师： Robert Wright |
课程主页: https://www.coursera.org/course/psychbuddhism
课程评论：没有评论
The Dalai Lama has said that Buddhism and science are deeply compatible and has encouraged Western scholars to critically examine both the meditative practice and Buddhist ideas about the human mind. A number of scientists and philosophers have taken up this challenge. There have been brain scans of meditators and philosophical examinations of Buddhist doctrines. There have even been discussions of Darwin and the Buddha: Do early Buddhist descriptions of the mind, and of the human condition, make particular sense in light of evolutionary psychology?
This course will examine how Buddhism is faring under this scrutiny. Are neuroscientists starting to understand how meditation “works”? Would such an understanding validate meditation—or might physical explanations of meditation undermine the spiritual significance attributed to it? And how are some of the basic Buddhist claims about the human mind holding up? We’ll pay special attention to some highly counterintuitive doctrines: that the self doesn’t exist, and that much of perceived reality is in some sense illusory. Do these claims, radical as they sound, make a certain kind of sense in light of modern psychology? And what are the implications of all this for how we should live our lives? Can meditation make us not just happier, but better people?
Week 1: Introduction to the Course and to Buddhism
Week 2: Evolution, the Human Mind, and the Human Condition
Week 3: The Logic of Mindfulness Meditation and the Scientific Evaluation of It
Week 4: Feelings, Perceptions, Thoughts, and Illusions
Week 5: The No-self Doctrine in Buddhism and the Conception of the Self in Modern Psychology
Week 6: Moral Truth, Moral Illusion, and the Meaning of Life
The Buddha said that human suffering—ranging from anxiety to sadness to unfulfilled craving—results from not seeing reality clearly. He described a kind of meditation that promises to ease suffering by dispelling illusions about the world and ourselves. What does psychological science say about this diagnosis and prescription—and about the underlying model of the mind?
