Abstract
Meditation is not just a simple research object. The rising and popular field of meditation research or contemplative science as it is called has a much larger impact on modern science and on our society as we assume at the first glance. This is because meditation is not only a fascinating research object but also quite a challenge for our current scientific practice. The content of this volume, which summarizes presentations and discussions of an expert meeting in Freiburg, Germany, documents the many facets and implications of meditation research. In this introduction we will touch on a few of them.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Belzer, F., S. Schmidt, G. Lucius-Hoene, J.F. Schneider, C.L. Orellana-Rios, and S. Sauer. 2013. Challenging the construct validity of mindfulness assessment – a cognitive interview study of the Freiburg mindfulness inventory. Mindfulness 4(1): 33–44. doi:10.1007/s12671-012-0165-7.
Chalmers, D.J. 1995. Facing up to the problem of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies 2(3): 200–219.
Grossman, P. 2011. Defining mindfulness by how poorly I think I pay attention during everyday awareness and other intractable problems for psychology’s (re)invention of mindfulness: Comment on Brown et al. (2011). Psychological Assessment 23(4): 1034–1040.
Lutz, A., J.D. Dunne, and R.J. Davidson. 2007. Meditation and the neuroscience of consciousness: an introduction. In Cambridge handbook of consciousness, ed. P. Zelazo, M. Moscovitch, and E. Thompson, 499–554. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosa, H. 2010. Alienation and acceleration: Towards a critical theory of late-modern temporality. Malmö: NSU Press.
Schmidt, S. 2011. Mindfulness in east and west – is it the same? In Neuroscience, consciousness and spirituality, ed. H. Walach, S. Schmidt, and W.B. Jonas, 23–38. New York: Springer.
Shear, J., and F.J. Varela (eds.). 1999. The view from within: First-person approaches to the study of consciousness. Thorverton/Bowling Green: Imprint Academic.
Walach, H. 2011. Neuroscience, consciousness, spirituality – questions, problems and potential solutions: An introductory essay. In Neuroscience, consciousness and spirituality, ed. H. Walach, S. Schmidt, and W.B. Jonas, 1–21. New York: Springer.
Walach, H., and A.L.C. Runehov. 2010. The epistemological status of transpersonal psychology: The data-base argument revisited. Journal of Consciousness Studies 17(1–2): 145–165.
Wallace, B.A. 2007. Contemplative science (where Buddhism and neuroscience converge). New York: Columbia University Press.
Acknowledgments
Large parts of this volume are based on an interdisciplinary expert meeting taking place in Freiburg Germany in 2010. This meeting as well as the production of this book was sponsored by the Theophrastus Foundation, Germany and by the Samueli Institute, Alexandria; VA, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schmidt, S., Walach, H. (2014). Introduction: Laying Out the Field of Meditation Research. In: Schmidt, S., Walach, H. (eds) Meditation – Neuroscientific Approaches and Philosophical Implications. Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01634-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01634-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01633-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01634-4
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)