The structure and bounds of consciousness
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences May 13, 2026 Brandon Ashby
Philosophers often consider hypothetical beings that are physically identical to us but lack conscious experience (zombies) or have reversed experiences (inverts). This paper introduces a new hypothetical being, the phenomenal smuggler, which is physically identical to us but has more kinds of conscious experiences. These smugglers raise novel questions about what limits exist on the number or types of extra experiences such a being could conceivably have. The author appeals to five structural features of consciousness—dimensional, precision, combinatorial, syntactic, and integration—to clarify and answer questions about the conceivable upper bounds of consciousness.