About this course: 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? All the features of this course are available for free. It does not offer a certificate upon completion.
Taught by: Robert Wright, Visiting Lecturer
Religion Department and the Center for Human Values
| Commitment | 2-5 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Spanish, Hungarian |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Reading: The Basics
- Reading: Course Overview
- Reading: About the Instructor
- Reading: Contact us
- Video: Feelings and Illusions
- Video: The First Two Noble Truths
- Video: Evolutionary Psychology and the First Two Noble Truths
- Video: Office Hours 1
- Reading: Resources for Week 1
- Video: Meditation
- Video: Mindfulness Meditation and the Brain
- Video: Can Our Feelings Be Trusted?
- Video: Office Hours 2
- Reading: Resources for Week 2
- Video: What Did The Buddha Mean?
- Video: Modern Psychology and the Self
- Video: Office Hours 3
- Reading: Resources for Week 3
- Reading: Guidelines for Grading Assignments
- Video: What Mental Modules Aren’t
- Video: What Mental Modules Are
- Video: Office Hours 4
- Reading: Resources for Week 4
- Video: ‘Self’ Control
- Video: The Experience of Not-self
- Video: Office Hours 5
- Reading: Resources for Week 5
- Video: Essentialism and Emptiness
- Video: Buddhist and Darwinian Enlightenment
- Video: A Naturalistic Religion?
- Video: Office Hours 6
- Video: Extra Office Hours 1
- Video: Extra Office Hours 2
- Video: Extra Office Hours 3
- Reading: Resources for Week 6
Jeder Kurs ist mit einem interaktiven Sachbuch vergleichbar und beinhaltet im Voraus aufgenommene Videos, Quiz und Projekte.
Nehmen Sie Kontakt mit mehreren tausend anderen Kursteilnehmern auf, erörtern Sie Ideen, diskutieren Sie Kursmaterialien und erhalten Sie Hilfe bei der Bewerkstelligung von Konzepten.
amazing
I found this course fascinating. The course is developed by Robert Wright who published the book "Why Buddhism is True." Really made a strong case, within the context of evolutionary psychology and modern neuroscience, of the "truth" behind Buddhist practices and their philosophy about the world. This course strips away the spiritual aspects in a non-denigrating fashion, focuses on the core concepts, examines their accuracy in context of Western evolutionary understanding of the natural world and how the human brain was designed to function via natural selection.
Many of the claims made by Buddhist spiritual practitioners about how they've come to experience existence is generally at odds with how neurotypical people experience the world. However, if you're open to the assertion that meditative practices may change the way the brain operates and interested in how natural selection may have wired us in a way that both obscures our perceptions of reality and lead us to feel unsatisfied, even the most staunch secularist may come to appreciate how the Buddhist prescription may bring a type of Enlightenment congruent with the natural world.
Amazing course. Thank you very much to Robert Wright and the team at coursera for shining a scientific light in Buddhist teachings.
SV
I thoroughly enjoyed this course. Dr. Wright did an amazing job intellectualizing core concepts of Buddhism and relating them to modern psychology- specifically evolutionary psychology. I finished this course with a strong curiousity to learn more about some of the subjects we looked at in the class.