Consciousness science as a marketplace of rationalizations.
The Behavioral and brain sciences June 25, 2026 Matan Mazor
Theoretical predictions about phenomenal consciousness in other beings are often untestable, creating evidential underdetermination. Combined with the moral weight assigned to consciousness, this situation risks turning consciousness science into a marketplace of rationalizations, where theories serve to reaffirm existing social practices and conventions rather than being empirically constrained.