Egenis seminar (hybrid) with Prof Mark Siderits

How does a Buddhist know they’re not a zombie?

When asked, each of us would presumably say we are not (philosophical) zombies, beings for whom there is nothing going on inside. The metaphysics of Buddhist non-self suggests that for a Buddhist the question may be more difficult to answer. They hold that the ‘I’-sense, the sense of being the subject of cognition and the agent of action, is delusive. And yet they do not deny that we are conscious beings. Insofar as the Buddhist reductionist rejection of a ‘soul-pellet’ seems defensible, an exploration of Buddhist attempts to explain meta-cognition may prove worthwhile. This will involve examining, inter alia, their defense of mereological nihilism and their account of the truth-predicate. It may then turn out that there is reason to believe consciousness is ultimately just a useful myth, an illusion.

Date and Time: 18 January, 15:15-17:00 GMT

Venue: Byrne House, Streatham Campus, University of Exeter

Online: via Zoom

Description supplied by the event organiser.