Evan Thompson (born 1962) is a professor of philosophy at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

. He writes about cognitive science, phenomenology,

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are add ...

, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combin ...

in dialogue with Western philosophy of mind and cognitive science.

Life

As a child, Thompson was

home-schooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

at the

Lindisfarne Association The Lindisfarne Association (1972–2012) was a nonprofit foundation and diverse group of intellectuals organized by cultural historian William Irwin Thompson for the "study and realization of a new planetary culture". It was inspired by the ph ...

, a think tank and retreat founded by his father,

William Irwin Thompson William Irwin Thompson (16 July 1938—8 November 2020) was an American social philosopher, cultural critic, and poet. He received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He described his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz ...

. In 1977, Thompson met Chilean phenomenologist

Francisco Varela Francisco Javier Varela García (September 7, 1946 – May 28, 2001) was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, cybernetician, and neuroscientist who, together with his mentor Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesi ...

when Varela attended a Lindisfarne conference which was organized by Thompson Senior and Gregory Bateson. Thompson received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

in 1990 and an A.B. in Asian Studies from Amherst College in 1983.

Career

Thompson has taught at the University of Toronto, Concordia University,

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

, and

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. While at York University, Thompson was also a member of the Centre for Vision Research. Thompson has held visiting appointments at the Center for Subjectivity Research in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and at the

University of Colorado, Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

. Thompson worked with

at CREA ( Centre de Recherche en Epistemologie Appliquée) at the Ecole Polytechnique in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. During this time, Varela and Thompson, along with

Eleanor Rosch Eleanor Rosch (once known as Eleanor Rosch Heider;"Natural Categories", Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 3, (May 1973), p. 328. born 1938) is an American psychologist. She is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, s ...

, wrote ''The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience,'' which introduced the approach to cognitive science known as

enactivism Enactivism is a position in cognitive science that argues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment. It claims that the environment of an organism is brought about, or enacted, by the active ...

. Thompson's book, ''Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind'', argues for a deep continuity between life and mind. In 2020, Thompson published '' Why I Am Not A Buddhist,'' which argues against what he calls Buddhist exceptionalism, "the belief that Buddhism is superior to other religions...or that Buddhism isn't really a religion but rather is a kind of 'mind science,' therapy, philosophy, or a way of life based on meditation."

Works

, Evan Thompson, and

, ''The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience''. MIT Press, 1991. *''Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception'' Routledge Press, 1995 *''Between Ourselves: Second Person Issues in the Study of Consciousness''. Imprint Academic, 2001. Published also as a special triple issue of the ''

Journal of Consciousness Studies A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' *Alva Noe and Evan Thompson, eds., ''Vision and Mind: Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Perception''. MIT Press, 2002. *''The Problem of Consciousness: New Essays in Phenomenological Philosophy of Mind''. ''Canadian Journal of Philosophy'', Supplementary Volume 29: 2003. University of Alberta Press *Giovanna Colombetti and Evan Thompson, eds., ''Emotion Experience''. Imprint Academic, 2005. Published also as a special triple issue of the ''Journal of Consciousness Studies''
''The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness''
Edited by Philip David Zelazo, Morris Moscovitch, Evan Thompson, May 2007

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

: Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology series, *
Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind
'.

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 2010,
''Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy''

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...

, 2014, *'' Why I am Not a Buddhist''.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 2020

Notes

External links

Thompson's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Evan 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers 1962 births American male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Living people Philosophers of mind University of British Columbia faculty American Indologists Amherst College alumni Tibetan Buddhism writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers

Life

Career

Works

See also

Notes

External links