Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive review and assessment of the bulk of the neuroscientific research conducted on meditation within the past two decades that may be relevant to the philosophy of meditation, to the development of a more comprehensive epistemological theory of the mind/brain/body complex, and to the improvement of our understanding of mental health, well-being, and human flourishing. There is already some significant empirical evidence in support of some of the claims around the links between meditation and increases in the volume and function of relevant structures and networks across the brain. However, this chapter also distinguishes between the more popular, often hyperbolic claims made about such studies, separating the metaphorical wheat from the chaff, and indicates some potentially promising directions for future research.