ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that phenomenological reduction, on the one hand, and the sort of contemplative reduction that constitutes meditation practice, on the other hand, have tremendous potential for comparative analysis, but that there are limits to conceiving them too closely along similar lines. In identifying many of the commonalities and differences between phenomenological and contemplative forms of reduction, this chapter draws not only on Mind & Life Institute research into both topics, but also significantly on observations of and from students in a meditation course taught for many years. This chapter parses the pros and cons of comparing phenomenological and contemplative forms of reduction, applying in-depth philosophical analyses to both forms of reduction, thereby instantiating an analytic form of the “philosophy of meditation” that is the focus of this Handbook.
