Christian Coseru
Lightsey Humanities Chair and Professor of Philosophy
Phone: 843.953.5687
E-mail: coseruc@cofc.edu
Personal Website: http://www.christiancoseru.com
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 theories of perception, first-person approaches to consciousness, and issues in moral psychology concerning empathy and evolution, and agency and moral responsibility.
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 the Summer of 2018. I am also editor (with Purushottama Bilimoria and Andrew Irvine) 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 Interests
- Philosophy of Mind
- 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
Editor
Links
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (contributor)
- Philpapers (editor for Indian Philosophy)
- International Society for Buddhist Philosophy (president)
Courses Taught
Seminar: Debates in Consciousness Studies (2016)
Seminar: Consciousness, Perception, and Intentionality (2013)
Seminar: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition (2009)
Metaphysics (2006, 2009, 2013)
Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind (2014)
20th Century Continental Philosophy (2007)
Knowledge and Reality (2016)
Contemporary Moral Issues (2019)
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
Publications
Book
Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Recent Articles
- “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.
- “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.
- "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).
- "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).
- "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.
- "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.