[Buddha-l] Query about Francisco Varela

[Barnaby Thieme]

Hi Dan

Varela definitely draws from old and venerable traditions, including 
Buddhist philosophy as well as Bergson's phenomenology. But it should be 
noted that Varela is not a philosopher, but a cognitive neurologist doing 
serious work in the hard sciences. IMO it's extremely important that he 
advocates  these views among hard scientists. And these efforts have paid 
off, as you can see when you browse the "Mind Science" section of any Barnes 
and Noble. You'll find Daniel Siegel, Francisco Varela, Csikszentmihalyi, 
Damasio, McCrone, and a dozen other guys deeply influenced by systems theory 
and/or Buddhist philosophy. The mainstream of cognitive science is shifting 
away from computational reductionism and allowing for dynamical systems 
views.

Varela grounds these ideas is a rigorous study of cognition and neurology. 
It's one thing to say that the mind co-creates reality, but another thing 
entirely to look closely at what actually happens in visual perception. This 
is very important, in my view, because it keeps people from falling to a 
form of subjective idealism, in which it is asserted that the mind is the 
sole author of creation. Many people have tried to abuse the findings of 
quantum mechanics and systems theory in this way, and it betrays a great 
misunderstanding of what the theories say. We must know what these things 
mean.

regards,
Barnaby

_________________________________

It's my manner. It looks insubordinate, but it isn't, really. - T. E. 
Lawrence




>From: "Dan Lusthaus" <vasubandhu at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: Buddhist discussion forum <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
>To: "Buddhist discussion forum" <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
>Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Query about Francisco Varela
>Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:41:16 -0500
>
>Thanks, Barnaby, for the explanation of Varela. But what, I wonder, is new
>about this, that wasn't, for instance, already thoroughly studied,
>documented and analyzed by Gestalt psychologists in the early 20th century
>(Kohler, et al,, not the later Fritz Perls derivative), or Merleau-Ponty in
>the early 1940s? They all used the blind spot as an example of our mental
>constructions -- Merleau-Ponty carried it into such issues as phantom limbs
>(someone who has lost a limb who, at least occasionally, feels it itch,
>etc.).
>
>Western Psychology of Perception -- a vast experimental and theoretical
>literature -- has had much in common with Buddhism for over a century. It
>should be a required course for anyone attempting to major in Buddhist
>studies.
>
>Dan Lusthaus
>
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