Psychological, philosophical, and Buddhist geekiness all in the same paper -- how can you go wrong?
1. Pagis, Michal. "Toward an Analytic Theory of the Self: Studying the Buddhist “Non-Self” in Practice" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal Convention Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Aug 11, 2006 Online <PDF>. 2008-08-21Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The Buddhist doctrine of non-self offers an intriguing conception of selfhood often contrasted with the western- modern conception of the self. Though much attention has been given to the study of this doctrine through Buddhist texts, the Buddhist negation of the ‘self’ is not well captured in the scarce ethnographies that investigate Buddhist practice. By introducing an analytic standpoint to the study of the ‘self’, this paper distinguishes between three levels: the analytic concept of the self used by the researcher, the emic cultural conception of the self, and the actual experience of selfhood. Based on an ethnographic research among practitioners of Buddhist meditation (Vipassana) in Israel and the United States, this paper uses the above analytic distinctions in order to shed light on the Buddhist concept of non-self. By using the analytic (etic) concept of the self as produced through social relations, this paper reveals how the practices of meditation and renunciation can dismantle emotional and cognitive identifications and aim to de-construct some aspects of the differentiation between the “self” and the “other”. Since this differentiation is crucial for the experience of a sense of self, Buddhist practices have a strong influence towards an experience of selfhood that can be understood as a “non-self” experience.
The link takes you to a PDF of the paper. Seems to me (and I have only just skimmed the paper due to time constraints) that the author is trying to bring multiple perspectives to this topic, which is cool and needed.
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