The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Mindfulness brings together two schools of thought and practice that – despite rarely being examined jointly – provide an incredibly fruitful way for exploring thinking, the mind, and the nature and practice of mindfulness.
Applying the concepts and methods of phenomenology, an international team of contributors explore mindfulness from a variety of different viewpoints and traditions. The handbook’s 35 chapters are divided into seven clear parts:
- Mindfulness in the Western Traditions
- Mindfulness in the Eastern Traditions
- Mindfulness, Ethics, and Well-Being
- Mindfulness, Time, and Attention
- Mindfulness and Embodiment
- Applications: Mindfulness in Life
- Conclusion: Mindfulness and Phenomenology?
Within these sections, a rich array of topics and themes are explored, ranging from Stoicism and the origins of mindfulness in Buddhism and eastern thought to meditation, self-awareness, the body and embodiment, and critiques of mindfulness. Additionally, the book delves into the ways the ideas of leading phenomenological thinkers, including Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas, and other leading thinkers, such as Irigaray, can contribute to understanding the relationship between phenomenology and mindfulness.
A valuable resource for those researching phenomenology and applications of phenomenology, this handbook will also be of great interest to students and practitioners of mindfulness in areas such as counseling and psychotherapy.
Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Susi Ferrarello and Christos Hadjioannou
PART I
Mindfulness in the Western Traditions
1 Pyrrhonian Epoché, Mindfulness, and Being-in-the-World
Georgios Petropoulos
2 Mindfulness as Motivation for Phenomenological Reduction
Ming-Hon Chu
3 A Levinassian Critique of Mindfulness
Pierrick Simon
4 Merleau-Ponty and Mindfulness
Timothy Mooney
5 Husserl and Mindfulness
Susi Ferrarello
6 Logoi of the Soul: Phenomenological Mindfulness in Plato’s Phaedrus
Tanja Staehler
7 Heideggerian and Stoic Mindfulness: Two Competing Models with Common Ground
Christos Hadjioannou
PART II
Mindfulness in the Eastern Traditions
8 Radical Relationality: A Philosophical Approach to Mindfulness Inspired by Nishida Kitarō
Francesca Greco
9 Phenomenological Insights from Postural Yoga Practice
Hayden Kee
10 A Phenomenology of Mindfulness Practice in Sufism
Marc Applebaum
11 Deluded Mindfulness
Jason Dockstader
12 Deconstructing Mindfulness: Heidegger, Tanabe, and the Kyoto School
Kurt C.M. Mertel and Samuel S. White
PART III
Mindfulness, Ethics, and Well-Being
13 Could Mindfulness Be Short on Meaning?
Luce Irigaray
14 Freeing Ourselves from Technology: Rethinking Mindfulness
Lisa Foran
15 ‘Let It Be’: Heidegger and Eckhart on Gelassenheit
Dermot Moran
16 Mindfulness as Open and Reflective Attention: A Phenomenological Perspective
Diego D’angelo
17 Mindfulness As Ethical Practice: Lévinas’ Phenomenology and Engaging with the World
Nikolaus-Palle Carey
PART IV
Mindfulness, Time and Attention
18 Contrasting Emotions and Notions of Temporality in Mindfulness Practice and in Heidegger’s Phenomenology
Evie Filea
19 Varieties of Self-Consciousness in Mindfulness Meditation
Odysseus Stone
20 Husserl on Emotional Expectations and Emotional Dispositions Towards the Future: A Contribution to Mindfulness Debates on Present Moment Awareness and Emotional Regulation
Celia Cabrera
21 Being Mindful about Nothing
Mahon O’brien
22 The Respiratory Context of Dukkha and Nirvana: The Buddha’s Mindful Phenomenology of Breathing
Petri Berndtson
PART V
Mindfulness and Embodiment
23 Between Phenomenology and Mindfulness: The Role of Presence in the Clinical and Therapeutic Context
Anya Daly and Chris Mccaw
24 Heidegger’s Gelassenheit as Embodied Mindfulness
Tomás Lally
25 Parallel Lives of Buddha and Socrates: On Epochè as Transcendental Transformation
Carlos Lobo
26 Being Mindful of the Other
Magnus Englander
PART VI
Applications: Mindfulness In Life
27 Mindfulness and the Phenomenology of Aesthetics: Reappraising Dufrenne and Merleau-Ponty
Colleen Fitzpatrick
28 Mindfulness and Creativity: The Impact of Michel Henry and Otto Rank on Psychoanalysis
Max Schaefer
29 The Mindfulness of Sacrifice: Towards a “Phenomenology” of History
Joseph Cohen
30 Engaging with Life Mindfully
Gerhard Thonhauser
31 Meditation, Lucidity, and the Phenomenology of Daydreaming
James Morley
32 Thinking Being: The Educational Scope of a Fruitful Convergence Between Phenomenology and Mindfulness
Eduardo Caianiello
PART VII
Conclusion: Mindfulness and Phenomenology?
33 Phenomenology and Mindfulness-Awareness
Natalie Depraz, Claire Petitmengin, and Michel Bitbol
34 Mindless Obfuscation: A Reply to Depraz, Petitmengin, and Bitbol
Odysseus Stone and Dan Zahavi
35 Mindful Clarification: Why It Is Necessary to Reply
Once Again to Stone and Zahavi 508
Natalie Depraz, Claire Petitmengin, and Michel Bitbol
About the Author :
Susi Ferrarello is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at California State University, East Bay, USA. Among her books is the recently published The Ethics of Love (Routledge, 2023). She is also a philosophical counselor and writes for Psychology Today.
Christos Hadjioannou is Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy at the Department of Classics and Philosophy, University of Cyprus. He has edited volumes on Heidegger’s philosophy as well as on Irigaray’s philosophy. He is currently writing a monograph on Heidegger and the Stoics (forthcoming 2024).
