Christian Coseru
Associate Professor
Phone: 843.953.1935
E-mail: coseruc@cofc.edu
Personal Website: http://coseruc.people.cofc.edu/
Christian Coseru is the author of Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), which advances an innovative approach to Buddhist theories of perception and bridges the chasm between Buddhist and Western philosophy of mind. He teaches courses on metaphysics, Indian and Buddhist philosophy, philosophy of religion, and on the intersections between phenomenology and analytic philosophy of mind
In his own words
I came to Charleston right after completing my doctorate at the Australian National University in 2005. I spent nearly four and a half years in India in the mid 1990s, pursuing studies in Indian and Buddhist Philosophy. While in India, I was affiliated with several research institutes, including the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, Varanasi. Between November 2000 and March 2001 I was a visiting PhD student at Queens' College, Cambridge, L’Institut de Civilisation Indienne, Paris, and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi.
My research interests are fairly broad, ranging from classical Indian and Buddhist philosophy to phenomenology and consciousness studies. My most recent work focuses on classical Indian and Buddhist theories of perception, the contemporary reception of the Dignāga-Dharmakīrti school of Buddhist epistemology, and the intersections between phenomenology and cognitive science.
Education
Ph.D. - Australian National University, Canberra
Maîtrise ès letters - Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest
Licence ès lettres - Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest
Research Interests
- Metaphysical and epistemological issues in Indian and Buddhist Philosophy
- Phenomenological and Cognitive Science perspectives on consciousness, intentionality, perception, and the self
- Issues in cross-cultural and comparative philosophy particularly regarding the translation and transmission of Indian and Buddhist philosophy to the West
Links
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
- The Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy
- Center for Consciousness Studies
- Philpapers
Courses Taught
PHIL 450 Consciousness, Intentionality, Embodiment (Senior Seminar)
PHIL 320 Metaphysics: Issues in Personal Identity
PHIL 234 Eastern Philosophy
PHIL 307 20th Century Continental Philosophy
PHIL 255 Philosophy of Religion
Honors and Awards
Christian Coseru has been awarded an NEH Summer Institute Grant to stage an institute on "Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives" in Summer 2012.
Publications
Book
Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Articles
"Reason and Experience in Buddhist Epistemology" In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, edited by Steven Emmanual. Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming.
"Naturalism and Intentionality: A Buddhist Epistemological Approach," Asian Philosophy 19/3 (2009).
"Karma, Rebirth, and Mental Causation," in Prebish, C., Kewon, D., & Wright, D. S. (eds.), Revisioning Karma, Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online Books (2007).
"Essay on the Ascension of the Soul in Neoplatonism, part I," Origins 6/1-2 (2003).
"Hermeneutics in a Buddhist Perspective," Origins 5/1 (2002).
"The Continuity between the Madhyamaka and the Yogācāra Schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India," Journal of the Asiatic Society 37/2 (1996).
