Rick Repetti

Rick Repetti is Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Department of History, Philosophy & Political Science at Kingsborough Community College in the City University of New York. Dr. Repetti received his Ph.D in philosophy at the CUNY Graduate School (May 2005) for his dissertation on the relationship between reflective consciousness and autonomy, "The Metacausal Theory of Autonomy". His primary philosophical interest is in meditation and other contemplative practices, and issues related to these, such as philosophy of mind and ethics.

Dr. Repetti facilitates the Contemplative Practices Faculty Interest Group at Kingsborough, and is a founding member of the CUNY Contemplatives, a group of CUNY faculty interested in integrating contemplative practices into the classroom.

Dr. Repetti is a meditation and yoga practitioner for over 35 years, has studied with many renowned meditation and yoga teachers, and for the past decade has been conducting meditation and yoga classes at Natural Balance Massage & Wellness Center, in Marine Park, Brooklyn. He also completed two years of post-graduate training at the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training in NYC, and sees clients for philosophical counseling. Rick is also a marathon runner, a student of mixed martial arts, and a 4th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate.

Mindfulness Meditation and Autonomy: A Buddhist Theory of Free Will

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I argued in my dissertation that the ‘hard’ metaphysical problem of free will may be explained in simple, metaphysically ‘easy’ causal/functional terms as a product of the mechanics of metacognitive mental causation: There seems to be a causal connection between the extent to which the mind can “go meta-“, or loop back in reflectively on … Read more