Consciousness
and Fundamental Reality: Lessons from East Asian Philosophy
June
11-13, 2019
Venue:
Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai, China
The
notion that consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality, perhaps even
reality's most fundamental aspect, is enjoying a considerable revival in
contemporary analytic western philosophy, with renewed interest in panpsychism,
idealism, quantum-based theories of consciousness, etc. In the philosophical
traditions of East Asia, however, the ontological primacy of consciousness has
been a central feature for millennia. In this conference we focus on the
question what are the most valuable insights and lessons that this rich
tradition of thought has to offer to contemporary theorizing on the relations
between consciousness and fundamental reality. In particular, we will be
interested in potentially valuable ideas which do not have clear equivalents in
the philosophical tradition of the west, or which have not been properly
attended to yet.
