Falsification and consciousness
arXiv Preprint Archive April 7, 2020 Johannes Kleiner, Erik Hoel
Falsification, a cornerstone of scientific testing, is especially problematic for theories of consciousness. In the standard experimental setup, a theory's predicted experience (based on brain data) is compared with an inferred experience (based on report or behavior). If inference and prediction are independent, any minimally informative theory is automatically falsified—a dilemma for many current theories that rely on report to infer conscious experience. If inference and prediction are strictly dependent, the theory becomes unfalsifiable. The paper explores potential ways out of this dilemma, highlighting a fundamental challenge for empirical testing in consciousness research.