A Theoretical Solution of the Mind-Body Problem: An Operationalized Proof that no Purely Physical System Can Exhibit all the Properties of Human Consciousness
arXiv Preprint Archive June 13, 2017 Catherine Reason
A necessary property of healthy human consciousness—self-certainty, the capacity to know with certainty that one is conscious—is inconsistent with any meaningful definition of a physical system. This is demonstrated through a no-go theorem applying to any physical system capable of sound and consistent human logical reasoning. The proof is general and recursive, showing that any physical process subserving such a function implies another such function. The authors conclude that for at least one aspect of human consciousness, the mind-body problem is now conclusively resolved.