Dall’intercultura agli studi contemplativi: per uno studio delle pratiche meditative

This article reconstructs the emergence of Contemplative Studies as an interdisciplinary and intercultural field, and proposes to read it, in the Italian context, as a development of the horizon opened by Giangiorgio Pasqualotto’s work on intercultural philosophy. After tracing some key moments in the institutional and theoretical formation of the field, it advances a working definition of Contemplative Studies and discusses its main methodological coordinates: first-, second-, and third-person approaches, the role of contemplative practice as both object and instrument of inquiry, and the tension between phenomenological, historical, philosophical, and empirical vocabularies. The final sections address unresolved issues such as definitional instability, buddhocentrism, neurocentrism, and broader cultural risks, while sketching possible future developments, from rigorous phenomenology to socially engaged critique.