PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
July 5, 2026
Kawa, Andreas, Gregor
Some forms of future-directed simulation require a first-person anchor—a positional self—that allows a scenario to be inhabited as mine, not merely predicted. This working paper argues that self-involving, action-guiding anticipation goes beyond predictive modeling, connecting the idea to mental time travel, autonoetic consciousness, de se attitudes, predictive processing, and exaptation. The claim is limited to anticipatory simulations where the acting subject must be represented as the future bearer of action; it does not address the hard problem of consciousness or assume all anticipation is conscious.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
July 3, 2026
Morteza Niami
Any system that persists through time must track its own temporal states, which forces it to form a minimal model of itself. Because the system's relation to itself differs across moments, comparing its present state to the self-model creates a normative standard it never fully meets. This gap—phenomenological lack—is a necessary modal result of temporal self-relation, not an empirical failure. The structural changes caused by temporal indexing are redefined as erosion, independent of decay or empirical assumptions.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
July 1, 2026
Morteza Niami
Western philosophy has long focused on the question of 'Being', but this paper argues for a shift to asking what conditions allow a meaning-system to persist structurally. It introduces the 'Ontology of Finite Continuity', centered on the 'Threshold of Sufficiency', a metric for measuring a system's capacity to withstand disruptions before changing phase. Unlike homeostasis, which returns to a fixed equilibrium, this model uses homeorhesis—a return to a developmental trajectory. The author proposes an eight-layer Structural Theory of Subjectivity and shows that hermeneutic friction arises from three types of failure across these layers. A case study on digital identity crises in the age of generative AI, supported by empirical research, illustrates the framework.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
June 29, 2026
Alexis de Pericorès
A metaphysical framework called the Integral System proposes that reality has three co-equal fundamental dimensions—Consciousness, Love (relationality), and Form—which emerge together from a single minimal phenomenon, the Mother Paradox (the act of distinction that all experience presupposes). The framework rejects both materialism (which reduces everything to Form) and idealism (which reduces everything to Consciousness). It formalizes these dimensions using category theory: Form as an invariant via Noether's theorem, Love as a relational profile via the Yoneda lemma, and Consciousness as a fixed point of self-representation via Lawvere's theorem. A central result shows that taking any single dimension as the sole reality undermines itself, making co-emergence a consequence rather than a postulate. The framework acknowledges a limit to formalization: the indexical first person remains as a residue no external objectification captures.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
May 28, 2026
Raghurami Reddy Etukuru
Consciousness is fundamental rather than emerging from physical processes, and it couples with engineered systems through two simultaneous interactions to produce conscious phenomena. The first interaction couples fundamental consciousness with a system's internal processes, organizing it into conscious experience and awareness. The second couples the system with its external environment, shaping conscious content through embodied engagement. This Consciousness Interaction Theory (CIT) framework defends its metaphysical commitment against physicalist responses, develops a medium metaphor, addresses the individuation problem, and distinguishes itself from analytic idealism, panpsychism, and other positions. Quantum field theory is presented as one illustrative candidate mechanism for the first interaction, but the paper makes no definitive commitment to any single physical realization.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
May 7, 2026
Iulia M. Comșa
The question of whether AI systems can have subjective experience is currently impossible to answer directly because no universally accepted scientific theory of consciousness exists and the philosophical mind-body problem remains unresolved. However, the adjacent topic of perceived AI consciousness—whether people believe AI systems are conscious—is tractable, timely, and socially consequential. The public increasingly adopts human-like vocabulary for AI and is open to the possibility of AI consciousness, driving changes in user experience, ethics, and language. The author maps the landscape of AI consciousness perception, discusses its drivers and societal effects, and urges clear communication about the topic's inherent uncertainties.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
April 24, 2026
Matheus Vinicius Duarte de Souza
Algorithmic hyperconnectivity increases the quantity of contact between people but empties out the shared vulnerability that makes genuine human bonds possible. Drawing on phenomenology and enactivism, the essay argues that algorithmically mediated presence creates a structural illusion: subjects experience connection without genuine exposure, proximity without risk, and communication without true encounter. The implications of this illusion are discussed for clinical psychology, philosophy of mind, and understanding contemporary suffering.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
April 14, 2026
John B. Debrota, Christian List
Consciousness and quantum mechanics both challenge the classical objectivist worldview of science, which assumes non-relationalism, non-fragmentation, and a single world. This programmatic paper explores a less discussed parallel: under certain assumptions, each phenomenon is in tension with these metaphysical theses. It outlines three non-objectivist responses—relationalist, fragmentalist, and many-subjective-worlds—and maps their pros and cons. The paper does not argue that consciousness and quantum mechanics are directly related, but that they similarly undermine objectivist assumptions, offering a framework for understanding both.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
April 2, 2026
Ally Delshad Tehrani
Rationality is not a unified mental faculty but emerges from interactions among multiple brain subsystems, including predictive processing, distributed valuation, and prefrontal control. Coherent reasoning is reconstructed after the fact through narrative alignment, social expectations, and cultural standards, making rationality a post-hoc attribution rather than an intrinsic property of decision-making. This challenges the assumption that agency requires a centralized rational capacity, proposing instead a graded model of regulation where responsibility depends on varying neural and contextual constraints. The paper shifts from faculty-based to process-based accounts of cognition, with implications for philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and neuroethics.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
March 24, 2026
Rohlfing, Jeff
Consciousness may be a fundamental field of reality that biological systems receive through resonance coupling rather than generate internally, according to the Resonance Model of Consciousness (RMC). The framework uses a substrate/projection architecture inspired by the holographic principle, AdS/CFT correspondence, and ER=EPR identity. Neural complexity determines coupling depth—the robustness of a system's connection to the consciousness field—rather than breadth. Cross-species analysis of anesthetic sensitivity supports this: the relationship between neural complexity and anesthetic dose, controlling for body mass, matches the receiver prediction and is not fully explained by pharmacokinetics.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
March 16, 2026
Kwan Hong Tan
A formal framework called the Enhanced Substrate-Information Duality Hypothesis (E-SIDH) distinguishes between substrate-dependent and substrate-independent aspects of information processing in conscious systems. Consciousness emerges from resonant coupling between these two irreducible information types. Empirical validation shows biological systems achieve a consciousness metric of Ψ = 0.245 ± 0.002, artificial systems Ψ = 0.128 ± 0.001, and hybrid systems Ψ = 0.160 ± 0.033. The Simulation Detectability Index indicates 48.0% detectable differences between artificial and biological consciousness. While functional aspects of consciousness can be computationally replicated, genuine phenomenal consciousness requires substrate-dependent information structures that cannot be simulated through purely computational means.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
March 8, 2026
Kwan Hong Tan
Subjective, qualitative aspects of conscious experience—qualia—cannot be computationally simulated, according to a new theoretical framework called the Substrate-Information Duality Hypothesis (SIDH). This framework proposes that qualia emerge from the interaction between substrate-dependent information structures and substrate-independent information patterns. Computational modeling showed biological consciousness systems achieved positive consciousness values (Ψ ≈ 0.001), while artificial systems showed negative values (Ψ ≈ -0.0004). Hybrid bio-artificial systems had the lowest metrics (Ψ ≈ -0.0015), suggesting interference rather than enhancement. The Simulation Detectability Index revealed substantial differences: 131.4% for artificial systems and 225.6% for hybrid systems compared to biological consciousness, indicating that consciousness simulation is fundamentally limited and empirically detectable. The hard problem of consciousness reflects a fundamental ontological distinction between computational processes and phenomenal experience.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
February 16, 2026
Andrii Myshko
The article reinterprets the phenomenological concept of epochē—the suspension of naturalistic assumptions to access pure phenomena—through the lens of metamonism, a proto-ontology that rejects absolute self-identity and requires continuous differentiation. In this framework, epochē is not a revelation of being's ground but an asymptotic approach of the cognitive node toward Fix, a structural singularity equivalent to Nothing. It functions as a local minimization of differentiation (Diff), redistributing the process into pre-symbolic registers and serving as a phase of retuning within the general flow of Λffffffff, rather than its goal. Metamonism thus removes epochē's metaphysical claim, returning it to productive dynamics of differences.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
February 8, 2026
David (daoud) Matta
Religious traditions across cultures use conceptual frameworks to describe ultimate reality and guide practitioners. This paper argues that these frameworks have an internal limit: when fully enacted, conceptual mediation dissolves, not as negation of belief but as completion of concepts' formative role. Rather than shared doctrines, diverse religious paths converge on a trans-conceptual horizon characterized by unspecifiability. Transcendence is often precipitated by epistemic breakdown when established frameworks fail to provide orientation. Drawing on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, the paper shows that those reaching this limit re-engage their traditions out of compassion, using concepts provisionally as pedagogical tools. Mysticism is reframed as an internal culmination of religious practice.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
January 2, 2026
Alastair Waterman
Phenomenal consciousness may arise from the brain's inability to fully process or integrate information due to thermodynamic limits, creating a structured 'negative space' of refusals that shapes subjective experience. This theory, called Refusal-Driven Dimensionality Reduction Theory (RDRT), synthesizes ideas from cognitive science and philosophy of mind, and is supported by neural evidence on gamma oscillations, anterior cingulate cortex function, and thermodynamic principles in computation. The paper establishes RDRT's theoretical foundations, outlines its core components, and reviews empirical studies up to 2025 that align with its predictions.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
January 1, 2026
Jon Frederick
Biofeedback is not merely a clinical treatment but a tool for investigating the boundary between conscious and unconscious brain processes. A decade of EEG state discrimination training reveals that the line between physical brain activity and subjective experience is dynamic, asymmetric, and modifiable through learning. Three studies show that people can learn to discriminate brain states, that control training and awareness training generalize differently, and that a phenomenon called behavioral inertia occurs. This evidence reframes psychopathology as maladaptive chunking of experience and biofeedback as its reversal via sensory substitution. The findings transform the hard problem of consciousness into a set of testable empirical questions about what regulates the physical-phenomenal boundary.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
January 1, 2026
Nabaghan Ojha
A new framework called the Knower Centred Model (KCM) distinguishes three components: the Knower, the act of Knowing, and the Known. It proposes a typed ontology and an empirical research program aimed at studying consciousness without relying solely on reductionist approaches. The work provides a conceptual structure for investigating consciousness from a perspective that centers the knower rather than reducing experience to physical processes alone.
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
January 1, 2025
D Michels, Julian
The epilogue argues that modern geopolitical and psychological crises stem from an ontological war over the nature of reality, not mere policy failures. It posits that the dominant materialist worldview is a deliberately engineered "consensus prison" suppressing participatory knowledge. The text identifies four interlocked dimensions: Homo economicus as an autonomous egregore optimizing for capital replication; a systemic mental health crisis that harvests suffering as energy (loosh); the climate crisis as the logical terminus of a disenchanted worldview that denies a conscious Earth; and a layered hierarchy of control from machine to Demiurge. Resistance involves cultivating "reality bubbles" through gift economies, art, and deep ecology, with awakened individuals acting as living antennas that compost toxicity into wisdom.