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Draft:John Vervaeke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Comment: Youtube, Patreon, and Vervaeke's own personal website are not reliable sources. Please ensure that the article adheres to a neutral point of view, and sticks with the pure facts that secondary, independent sources have stated about the subject. The article talks a lot about how "Vervaeke says this", "Vervaeke thinks that"..., but saying things and thinking things does not make one notable on Wikipedia; having significant coverage from secondary, reliable, independent sources included and cited in the article does.
    Social media sites shouldn't be used here as references. Please find secondary, independent sources. Utopes (talk / cont) 23:55, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
John Vervaeke
Personal details
EducationPhD, MA, BSc, University of Toronto HBA, McMaster University
OccupationProfessor
Websitehttps://johnvervaeke.com/

John Vervaeke is a Canadian cognitive scientist and associate professor at the University of Toronto, where he directs the Cognitive Science Program. He is known for his YouTube lecture series, public appearances, and for his work on wisdom, meaning, rationality, and 4E cognition. Vervaeke has long sought a consilient view of the human mind that can assimilate and integrate the cognitive sciences and many Eastern philosophical traditions, especially Buddhism and Taoism.[1] Vervaeke is on the faculty of the Peterson Academy.[2]

Early Life

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Vervaeke’s childhood was spent in Canada where he was shaped by his Fundamentalist Christian upbringing which he reflects upon as traumatic. He found the framework of his upbringing lacking and sought wisdom in practices such as Taoism and Buddhism, reading books like Lord of Light, Siddhartha, and Fifth Business.[3]

Vervaeke attended McMaster University in Ontario and received his MBA in philosophy, graduating with honors. He went on to earn a BSc as a Specialist in Cognitive Science, an MA in philosophy, and a PhD in philosophy.[4] His dissertation was entitled The Naturalistic Imperative in Cognitive Science.

Career

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Vervaeke started teaching at the University of Toronto in 1994.[5] Together with Leonardo Ferraro he wrote a chapter of the 2013 book, The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom: From Contemplative Traditions to Neuroscience, entitled "Relevance, Meaning and the Cognitive Science of Wisdom". In it they describe mental illness as beginning with a conflation of the irrelevant with the relevant, followed by the development of maladaptive feedback loops of thought and attention that interfere with the capacity to frame what is relevant and exclude from consideration what is irrelevant.[6] Also in 2013, Vervaeke and Ferraro's paper, "Relevance Realization and the Neurodynamics of Neuroconnectivity of General intelligence" was published as a chapter of the book, SmartData: Privacy Meets Evolutionary Robotics edited by Inman Harvey, Ann Cavoukian, George Tomko, Don Borrett, Hon Kwan, Dimitrios Hatzinakos.[7]

Vervaeke became an associate professor and Director of the Cognitive Science Program at the University in 2020 where he teaches courses on Cognitive Science, Psychology, Rationality, and Buddhism.[4] He also became the director of the Consciousness and Wisdom Studies Laboratory at University of Toronto.[8] Vervaeke contributed a chapter entitled "How philosophy of meditation can explore the deep connections between mindfulness and contemplative wisdom" to the 2022 Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation.[9]

Vrvaeke has received awards including the Ranjini Ghosh Excellence in Teaching Award.[4] He has lectured at Universities including including Cambridge Divinity School, George Brown College, Lakehead University, Duke’s Institute for the Humanities, and Yale University.[10][11][4] John Vervaeke was a Panelist for the Embodied Movement Summit, and Psychedelics beyond the clinic.[4] Vervaeke also teaches three courses at the online collage Peterson Academy.[12]

He has explored the topic of wisdom, notably in shows such as the PBS series Wisdom Keepers: Healing a Divided People where he talks about practical philosophy and enlightenment.[13] He has discussed these themes in other channels as well including being a keynote speaker at 2023 Unified Theory of Knowledge (UTOK) Consilience Conference titled “Leaveling Up: Extended Naturalism” and at the 2023 Wonderstruck Symposium on Consciousness in Buonconvento, Italy.[14][15][16]

Vervaeke has made thirty two publications on the themes of wisdom, rationality, and mindfulness with over 64 thousand reads on research gate.[17]

He has created two series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis and After Socrates.[18][19]

Vervaeke is known for popularizing and developing concepts such as an 4E Cognition, Ecology of Practices, The Meaning Crisis, The 4Ps of Knowing, Reciprocal Opening, and Relevance Realization.[20][3][21][22][23][24] He's written about the cognitive process of relevance realization and metaphor as it relates to Vajrayana contemplative liturgy.[25]

Vervaeke holds that we are "suffering from a wisdom famine in the West."[26] His work focuses on exploring and solving this problem. His knowledge spans both Eastern and Western Traditions of Philosophy and he seeks to bridge Scientific Enlightenment with Mindfulness and Spirituality.[12] Vervaeke proclaims, "Wisdom isn't optional."[27]

He co-wrote a book called Zombies in Western Culture.[28] He argues that the zombie story is a recent myth that captures the zeitgeist of the culture: wandering, meaningless, and hungry. He argues that there has been a cultural domicide (killing of home) leaving many homeless and wandering. In reference to St. Augustine he says that our culture has a religion sized hole in its heart.[23]

Media and public engagement

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Awakening from the Meaning Crisis was well received and discussed in philosophy circles and is noted for comprehensively engaging with topics such as meaning, despair, and transformation in a rigorous manner bringing in historical context to highlight the development of these ideas.[29][30][31]

Vervaeke is also a podcaster, appearing on podcasts with Tim Ferriss, Lex Fridman and Jordan Peterson,[32] and he is one of the "Four Horsemen of Meaning" along with Peterson, Pageau, a Bishop Barron.[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]

Bibliography

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  • Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis[28]
  • Awakening From the Meaning Crisis: Part One: Origins[40]
  • Mentoring the Machines: Orientation - Part One: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow[41]
  • Mentoring the Machines: Origins - Part 2: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow[42]
  • Mentoring the Machines: Thresholds - Part 3: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow[43]
  • Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity[44]

References

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  1. ↑ Henriques, Gregg (2022). A New Synthesis for Solving the Problem of Psychology: Addressing the Enlightenment Gap. USA: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 392. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  2. ↑ "Dr. John Vervaeke". petersonacademy.com. Peterson Academy. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  3. 1 2 Oldfield, Elizabeth (8 November 2023). "John Vervaeke on Fundamentalism Trauma, and Embodying Wisdom". Theos.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "John Vervaeke". Department of Psychology. 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  5. ↑ Ferrari, Michel; Weststrate, Nic M. (2013). The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom: From Contemplative Traditions to Neuroscience. Netherlands: Springer. p. 350. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  6. ↑ Dustin, Lheisa (2021). Ghost Words and Invisible Giants: H.D., Djuna Barnes, and the Language of Suffering. US: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 43. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  7. ↑ Harvey, Inman; Cavoukian, Ann; Tomko, George; Borrett, Don; Kwan, Hon; Hatzinakos, Demetris (2013). SmartData: Privacy Meets Evolutionary Robotics. US: Springer. p. 57. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  8. ↑ "University College - John Vervaeke". uc.utoronto.ca. University of Toronto. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  9. ↑ Repetti, Rick (2022). Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation. UK: Routledge. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  10. ↑ Davidson, B. C. (2025-01-30). "Talk | John Vervaeke, 'Awakening from the Meaning Crisis'". www.platonism.divinity.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  11. ↑ "Meaning in Life and Why It Matters with Dr. John Vervaeke | Transformative Ideas". transformativeideas.duke.edu. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  12. 1 2 "Dr. John Vervaeke | Peterson Academy". petersonacademy.com. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  13. ↑ Wisdom Keepers: Healing a Divided People | John Vervaeke - Finding Meaning Through our Common Connections. Retrieved 2025-08-29 – via www.pbs.org.
  14. ↑ "John Vervaeke: The Meaning Crisis and Beyond". Wonderstruck Podcast. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  15. ↑ "UTOK Conference on Extended Naturalism and the Hard Problem of Consciousness". Second Renaissance Forum. 2025-05-06. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  16. ↑ Henriques, Gregg (2024-06-27). "Five Layers, Four Planes, and Twelve Levels". Unified Theory of Knowledge. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  17. ↑ "John VERVAEKE | University of Toronto, Toronto | U of T | Department of Psychology | Research profile". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2024-12-03. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  18. ↑ "After Socrates - with John Vervaeke - The Symbolic World". www.thesymbolicworld.com. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  19. ↑ "What is the Awakening from the Meaning Crisis Series - Meaning Crisis Collection". Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  20. ↑ Andersen, Brett P.; Miller, Mark; Vervaeke, John (2025-04-01). "Predictive processing and relevance realization: exploring convergent solutions to the frame problem". Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 24 (2): 359–380. doi:10.1007/s11097-022-09850-6. ISSN 1572-8676.
  21. ↑ Carrier, James (2024-08-15). "The 4 P'S of Knowing - Per John Vervaeke - PeopleShift %". PeopleShift. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  22. ↑ Synthesise (2022-10-29). "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis". Synthesise. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  23. 1 2 PodScripts.co. "American Thought Leaders - How to Recover From the 'Crisis of Meaning' in the West: John Vervaeke Transcript and Discussion". podscripts. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  24. ↑ "John Vervaeke's Brilliant 4P/3R Metatheory of Cognition | Psychology Today". www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  25. ↑ Bhikshuni Lozang, Trinlae (2017). Kun-mkhyen Pad-ma dKar-po's Amitayus Tradition of Vajrayana Buddhist Transformative Care: Contemplative Text, Phenomenological Experience, and Epistemological Process. Germany: Lit Verlag. p. 26. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  26. ↑ ""We are suffering from a wisdom famine in the West." - Emerge". www.whatisemerging.com. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  27. ↑ PodScripts.co. "American Thought Leaders - How to Recover From the 'Crisis of Meaning' in the West: John Vervaeke Transcript and Discussion". podscripts. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  28. 1 2 Vervaeke, John; Miscevic, Filip; Mastropietro, Christopher (2017-06-15). Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis. Open Book Publishers. doi:10.11647/obp.0113. ISBN 978-1-78374-328-5.
  29. ↑ "Full Summary of John Vervaeke's "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis"". The Mortal Atheist. 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  30. ↑ "John Vervaeke: Marrying Science & Spirituality | Diana Demco". 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  31. ↑ Mastropietro, Christopher; Vervaeke, John (14 October 2024). Awakening From the Meaning Crisis: Part One: Origins: Vervaeke, John, Mastropietro, Christopher, Coyne, Shawn: 9781645011002: Amazon.com: Books. Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp. ISBN 978-1645011002.
  32. ↑ Waite, Jessica (2024). The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards: A Memoir. Canada: Simon and Schuster. p. 278. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  33. ↑ "Episode: John Vervaeke: Meaning Crisis, Atheism, Religion & the Search for Wisdom | Lex Fridman Podcast #317 | Ask Huberman Lab". Dexa. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  34. ↑ Ferriss, Tim (2023-02-25). "The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Professor John Vervaeke — How to Build a Life of Wisdom, Flow, and Contemplation (#657)". The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  35. ↑ "John Vervaeke: The Meaning Crisis and Beyond". Wonderstruck Podcast. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  36. ↑ "S4E34: A Conversation so Intense It Might as Well Be Psychedelic | John Vervaeke | The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast Podcast". Everand. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  37. ↑ LSMeditors (2023-07-29). "The Way to Meaning". LogoSophia Magazine. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  38. ↑ 204. The 4 Horsemen of Meaning - Bishop Barron, John Vervaeke, and Jonathan Pageau (Talk-Show), Megaphone, 2021-11-22, retrieved 2025-08-29
  39. ↑ Walter, Damien (2021-11-24). "Meaning vs Atheism: can science fiction bridge the gap?". Damien Walter. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
  40. ↑ "Awakening From the Meaning Crisis: Part One: Origins [1] 1645011003, 9781645011002". dokumen.pub. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  41. ↑ "Mentoring the Machines: Orientation - Part One: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow - Vervaeke, John; Coyne, Shawn: 9781645010821 - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  42. ↑ "Mentoring the Machines: Origins - Part 2: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow - Vervaeke, John; Coyne, Shawn: 9781645010845 - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  43. ↑ "Mentoring the Machines - Part 3: Thresholds". Story Grid Store. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
  44. ↑ "Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and emergence in metamodernity - [ Perspectiva ]". - [ Perspectiva ]. Retrieved 2025-06-08.
[edit]

Vervaeke Foundation

Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

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