Structure & Quality: Conceptual and Formal Foundations for the Mind-Body Problem
arXiv Preprint Archive April 23, 2025 via arXiv
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThis paper addresses the hard problem of consciousness by examining the relationship between structure and quality, rather than the physical and mental. Information-theoretic measures quantify the mutual determinability between structure and quality, introducing a Q-S space for analyzing fidelity between these domains. This space yields a five-fold categorization of possible relationships between structural and qualitative properties, illustrated through conceptual and formal models. The ontological implications of each category are examined, shedding light on debates around functionalism, emergentism, idealism, panpsychism, and neutral monism. The framework derives theoretical constraints on qualitative systems undergoing evolution, explored in a companion paper on qualia and natural selection.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Consciousness Neuroscience/q-bio.nc Artificial intelligence/cs.ai Mind-body problem Qualia/phenomenology |
| Key finding | A five-fold categorization of possible relationships between structural and qualitative properties emerges from analyzing fidelity in a Q-S space, with implications for major ontological positions. |
Abstract
This paper explores the hard problem of consciousness from a different perspective. Instead of drawing distinctions between the physical and the mental, an exploration of a more foundational relationship is examined: the relationship between structure and quality. Information-theoretic measures are developed to quantify the mutual determinability between structure and quality, including a novel Q-S space for analyzing fidelity between the two domains. This novel space naturally points toward a five-fold categorization of possible relationships between structural and qualitative properties, illustrating each through conceptual and formal models. The ontological implications of each category are examined, shedding light on debates around functionalism, emergentism, idealism, panpsychism, and neutral monism. This new line of inquiry has established a framework for deriving theoretical constraints on qualitative systems undergoing evolution that is explored in my companion paper, Qualia & Natural Selection.