The Synergistic Mind-Body Hypothesis: A Daoist Approach to Consciousness from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Cognitive Science November 21, 2025 Darin Lei, Alex Djedovic
Consciousness arises from a synergistic and exaptive relationship between mind and body, according to the synergistically affectively interoceptively synchronizing mind-body hypothesis (SAIS). This system integrates highly adaptive interoceptive active inference with dynamic coordination of allostatic affective control and exteroception. Emerging research suggests parallels between the allostatic paradigm of predictive processing and the system of Qi in traditional Chinese medicine and Daoist conceptions of consciousness, indicating that the key to understanding consciousness may lie in revisiting fundamental processes such as allostasis, homeostasis, and autopoiesis.