Incompatibility of the numerical transcendence of noema and supervenience
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications June 25, 2026 Liu Liu
Phenomenology concerns both real and imaginary entities, including necessary beings, hypothetical objects, possible objects, and modal properties. Because the range of potential intentional objects is vast, the total number of mental states would far exceed the number of possible physical states. This numerical excess of noema is fundamentally incompatible with the principle of supervenience, which holds that mental states depend on physical states. The argument offers an alternative to those advanced by Abelson and Porpora, rooted in the mind's capacity to think about natural numbers. The consciousness problem may require trialism rather than dualism, as necessary beings and hypothetical objects form a distinct ontological category separate from minds and physical objects.