Christian Coseru

Professor

Christian Coseru works in the fields of philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Indian and Buddhist philosophy in dialogue with Western philosophy and cognitive science. Some of his most recent work focuses on questions about the persistence of subjectivity in non-ordinary and pathological states of consciousness, the problem of AI consciousness, mental causation, and classical and contemporary accounts of the nature and scope of self-knowledge.

In his own words:

"I am deeply committed to making philosophy more conceptually inclusive by incorporating resources of philosophical skill from other cultures. To that end, I have directed (with Jay Garfield and Evan Thompson) two NEH Summer Institutes: the first, on cross-cultural philosophy of mind ("Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspective") in 2012, and a second on "Self-knowledge in Eastern and Western Philosophies" in 2018. I am also the editor of the Springer Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures Series."

Education

• Ph.D. - Philosophy/Asian Studies, Australian National University
• Maîtrise ès letters - Philosophy, University of Bucharest
• Licence ès lettres - Philosophy, University of Bucharest

Research Areas

• Philosophy of Mind
• Phenomenological and Cognitive Science perspectives on consciousness, intentionality, perception, and the self
• Indian and Buddhist Philosophy

Editor

• Springer Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures

Links

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (contributor)
• Philpapers (editor for Indian Philosophy)
• International Society for Buddhist Philosophy (president)

Courses Taught

• Debates in Consciousness Studies
• Phiosophy of Artificial Intelligence
• Philosophy of Mind
• Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind
• Metaphysics
• Eastern Philosophy
• Contemporary Moral Issues
• Colloquium in Western Civilization

Honors and Awards

• NEH Summer Institute: Self-Knowledge in Eastern and Western Philosophies (with Jay Garfield and Evan Thompson), 2011-2013
• NEH Summer Institute Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives (with Jay Garfield and Evan Thompson), 2017-2019
• Australian Research Council (ARC) Grant, for developing an Interlingua based proof of concept model for parsing Sanskrit, 2000-2001

Publications

Books

Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

Reasons and Empty Persons: Mind, Metaphysics, and Morality: Essays in Honor of Mark Siderits (Springer, 2023).

Papers

2024 

• "Can There Be Something It Is Like To Be No One”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 31 (5-6): 62–103.
• "Is Subjectless Consciousness Possible?” Journal of Consciousness Studies 31 (5-6): 5–26.
• "Artificial Minds and the Dilemma of Personal Identity” Philosophy East and West 74 (2): 281–297.
• "Know Thy Knowing: On the Reflexive Form of Self-knowledge.” In Crossing the Stream, Leaving the Cave: Buddhist-Platonist Philosophical Inquiries, edited by A. Carpenter and P-J Harter, 167–196. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2023 

• "Reason’s Myriad Way: In Praise of Confluence Philosophy”, in Reasons and Empty Persons: Mind, Metaphysics, and Morality: Essay in Honor of Mark Siderits, edited by Christian Coseru, 1–15. Springer.

2022 

• "Consciousness, Physicalism, and the Problem of Mental Causation”, in Cross-Cultural Approaches to Consciousness, edited by Itay Shani and Susanne Kathrin Beiweis, 71–94. London: Bloomsbury.
• Can Global Antirealism withstand the Enactivist Challenge”, Analysis 82 (1):131-142.
• "Consciousness, Content, and Cognitive Attenuation: A Neurophenomenological Perspective”, in Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation, edited by Rick Repetti, 354–367. London: Routledge.

2021 

• "The Middle Way to Reality: On Why I Am Not a Buddhist and Other Philosophical Curiosities,”, Sophia 60 (3).
• "Whose Consciousness: Reflexivity and the Problem of Self-Knowledge”, in Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness: Tradition and Dialogue, edited by Mark Siderits, Ching Keng, and John Spackman, Leiden: Brill.
• "On Pursuing the Dialogue Between Buddhism and Science in Ways that Distort Neither”, in a symposium on Evan Thompson’s Why I am Not a Buddhist?, APA Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies Newsletter, edited by Minh Nguyen, Spring, 2021.

2020 

• "Consciousness and Causality: Dharmakīrti Against Physicalism”, in Reverberations of Dharmakīrti’s Philosophy: Proceedings of the Fifth International Dharmakīrti Conference Heidelberg, August 26 to 30, 2014, edited by Birgit Kellner, Patrick McAllister, Horst Lasic, and Sara McClintock. Wien: Verlag Der Österreichischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften.
• "Free Your Mind: Buddhism, Causality, and the Free Will Problem”, Zygon 55 (2): 1–13.
• "Reasons and Conscious Persons”, in Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons: An Introduction and Critical Inquiry. edited by Andrea Sauchelli, 160–186. London: Routledge.

2019 

• "Consciousness, Naturalism, and Human Flourishing", in B. Seok (ed.), Naturalism, Human Flourishing,
• and Asian Philosophy: Owen Flanagan and Beyond. New York: Routledge, 2019, pp. 113–130.
• "Presence of Mind: Consciousness and the Sense of Self", in Sen, M. (ed.), Problem of the Self: Consciousness, Subjectivity, and the Other, Delhi: Aakar Books, 2019, pp. 46–64.

2018 

• "More or Less Within My Power: Nature, Virtue, and the Modern Stoic,” Reason Papers 40 (2): 8–18. 2018.
• "On Engaging Buddhism Philosophically”, Sophia 57 (4): 1–11, 2018.
• "Consciousness and the Mind-Body Problem in Indian Philosophy," in R. Gennaro, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness, London: Routledge, 2018.
• "Interpretations or Interventions? Indian Philosophy in the Global Cosmopolis", in Purushottama Bilimoria, ed. Routledge History of Indian Philosophy, London: Routledge, 2018.

2017 

• "Soznanie, lichnaya identichnost' i debaty o "ya" /"ne-ya"," Voprosy Filosofii, Vol. 10 (2017): 130–140.
• "Are Reasons Causally Relevant for Action? Dharmakīrti and the Embodied Cognition Paradigm", in Steven Emmanuel, ed. Buddhist Philosophy: A Comparative Approach, Wiley-Blackwell, 2017, pp. 109-122.
• "Breaking Good: Moral Agency, Neuroethics, and the Spontaneity of Compassion", in Jake Davis, ed., A Mirror is for Reflection: Understanding Buddhist Ethics (New York, Oxford University Press, 2017).

2016 

• "Personal Identity and Cosmopolitan Philosophy", Philosophical Studies,DOI: 10.1007/s11098-016-0829-6, December 2016.
• "Freedom from Responsibility: Agent-Neutral Consequentialism and the Bodhisattva Ideal", in Rick Repetti, ed,. Buddhist Perspectives on Free Will: Agentless Agency? (London, Routledge 2016).
• "Consciousness and Causal Emergence: Śāntarakṣita Against Physicalism", in Jonardon Ganeri, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy (Oxford University Press, published online June 2016).

2015 

• "Précis of Perceiving Reality," Journal of Consciousness Studies 22 (9-10): 9-24.
• "Perception, Causally Efficacious Particulars, and the Range of Phenomenal Consciousness," Journal of Consciousness Studies 22 (9-10): 55-82.
• "Taking the Intentionality of Perception Seriously: Why Phenomenology is Inescapable," Philosophy East and West 65 (3): 227-248.

2014 

• "Buddhism, Comparative Neurophilosophy, and Human Flourishing," Zygon 49 (1): 208-219.
• "Reason and Experience in Buddhist Epistemology," in Emmanuel, S., ed. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
• "Dignāga and Dharmakīrti on Perception and Self-Awareness," in Powers, J., ed. The Buddhist World, Routledge, 2013.
• "Mind in Indian Buddhist Philosophy," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
• "Naturalism and Intentionality: A Buddhist Epistemological Approach," Asian Philosophy, 19/3 (November 2009): 239-264.
• "Buddhist Foundationalism and the Phenomenology of Perception," Philosophy East and West, 59:4 (October 2009): 409-439.