The Structural Conditions of Consciousness I — Structural Knot Theory — Proof of Absence: Inferring the Locus of the Subject (Repositioning State-Based Theories of Consciousness: IIT, GNW, HOT, Predictive Processing, RPT, and Epiphenomenalism)

Subjectivity is not a generated property of the brain but a structurally necessary position within any system that must act irreversibly, maintain viability, and discard most information. The paper argues that in such systems, a point of irreversible convergence is forced to exist where multiple possible futures are reduced to a single realized outcome. This convergence point alone satisfies all conditions required for subjectivity: singular realization, irreversible exclusion of alternatives, and embedding within a non-branching temporal sequence. Thus, the hard problem of consciousness is reformulated from explaining how subjective experience is generated to identifying where it must be placed within a causally closed system.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Qualia? “What cannot be directly spoken of must remain unsaid — but it can still be structurally surrounded.” This is the guiding spirit of the present series. This paper reformulates the hard problem of consciousness—traditionally addressed within state-based frameworks such as Integrated Information Theory (IIT), Global Neuronal Workspace (GNW), Higher-Order Thought (HOT), Predictive Processing, Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT), and epiphenomenalism—from a problem of generation to one of structural placement. Adopting a strictly subtractive method, we retain only unavoidable constraints on acting systems—irreversible action, viability pressure, and large-scale information discard—while eliminating all explanatory additions. Under these conditions, a causally complete description cannot be achieved: a positional gap necessarily remains at the point where multiple effective possibilities must be reduced to a single realized outcome. We then show that, given these same constraints, such a system must contain a point of irreversible convergence at which multiple effective future trajectories are exclusively and irreversibly reduced to one. This convergence is not contingent but structurally forced by the joint requirements of viability, exclusivity, and a single irreversible temporal history. Finally, we demonstrate that this convergence point uniquely satisfies all structural conditions required of subjectivity: singular realization, irreversible exclusion of alternatives, and embedding within a non-branching temporal sequence. No alternative position satisfies these constraints simultaneously. Therefore, subjectivity is not a generated state or an additional property, but the minimal positional term that is unavoidably required to close a causally singularized irreversible temporal series. この作品の更新された内容はOSFで閲覧可能です。 主なDOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KCFM8