{"id":24823,"date":"2025-03-13T14:03:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T12:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/?p=24823"},"modified":"2025-03-19T03:10:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T01:10:33","slug":"the-great-consciousness-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/sciencesurf\/2025\/03\/the-great-consciousness-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"The great consciousness debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most recent discussion<\/a> abut consciousness was going in circles, having now a dozen of competing theories as summarized \u00a0by chatGPT and reworked by me for omissions. Not sure if all the summaries and references are good, but maybe this is a good starting point to understand the background of \u00a0a new paper<\/a>.
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  1. 1. Global Workspace Theory (GWT) proposed by Bernard Baars.
    \n– Suggests that consciousness arises when information is “broadcast” to a global workspace in the brain, allowing different cognitive processes to access and use it.
    \n– Compares the brain to a theater, where only information in the spotlight of attention becomes conscious.
    \n– Baars, B. J. (1988). A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness<\/em>. Cambridge University Press.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0Integrated Information Theory (IIT) developed by Giulio Tononi.
    \n– Proposes that consciousness is linked to the amount of integrated information (\u03a6) in a system.
    \n– Suggests that the more a system is capable of integrating information across different parts, the more conscious it is.
    \n– Tononi, G. (2004). An information integration theory of consciousness<\/em>. BMC Neuroscience, 5(1), 42.<\/li>\n
  3. Higher-Order Theories (HOT)**
    \n– Suggests that consciousness arises from thoughts about thoughts.
    \n– A mental state becomes conscious when there is a higher-order representation of that state in the brain.
    \n– Championed by researchers like David Rosenthal and Hakwan Lau.
    \n– Rosenthal, D. M. (2005). Consciousness and Mind<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/li>\n
  4. Attention Schema Theory (AST) proposed by Michael Graziano.
    \n– Suggests that the brain creates a simplified model (a schema) of its own attention processes, which gives rise to subjective awareness.
    \n– Consciousness is a type of self-monitoring mechanism.
    \n– Graziano, M. S. A. (2013). Consciousness and the Social Brain<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0Predictive Processing & Bayesian Brain Theories
    \n– Suggests that the brain is constantly generating predictions about sensory input and updating them based on new information.
    \n– Consciousness arises from how well the brain models the world and resolves prediction errors.
    \n– Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory?<\/em> Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127-138.<\/li>\n
  6. Quantum Theories of Consciousness like Penrose & Hameroff\u2019s Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) – suggest that consciousness arises from quantum processes in microtubules in brain neurons.
    \n– Highly controversial, as many neuroscientists doubt quantum effects play a significant role in brain function.
    \n– Penrose, R. (1989). The Emperor\u2019s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/li>\n
  7. Panpsychism
    \n– Suggests that consciousness is a fundamental feature of the universe, present in all matter at some level.
    \n– Variants include **Integrated Information Panpsychism** (which aligns with IIT) and **Cosmopsychism** (which suggests the universe itself is conscious).
    \n– Philosophers like Philip Goff and Galen Strawson support versions of this idea.
    \n– Strawson, G. (2006). Realistic monism: Why physicalism entails panpsychism<\/em>. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 13(10-11), 3-31.<\/li>\n
  8. Enactive and Embodied Theories
    \n– Consciousness is seen as emerging from the interaction between the brain, body, and environment.
    \n– Rather than being purely brain-based, it depends on active engagement with the world.
    \n– Varela, Thompson, and No\u00eb have been key contributors.
    \n– Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience<\/em>. MIT Press.<\/li>\n
  9. \u00a0Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT) proposed by Victor Lamme.
    \n– Suggests that consciousness arises from recurrent (looping) activity in cortical networks.
    \n– When neural activity is only feedforward, it remains unconscious.
    \n– Lamme, V. A. F. (2006). Towards a true neural stance on consciousness<\/em>. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(11), 494-501.<\/li>\n
  10. Interactionist Dualism Theory (IDT) proposed by Eccles and Popper
    \n– consciousness has a non-physical reality that interacts with the brain.
    \n– influences the brain by intervening at specific synapses
    \n– unlike materialist views, this theory suggests that the mind and brain are distinct but interact causally.
    \n– criticized for lacking a clear mechanism for how a non-physical mind could affect a physical brain.
    \n– Popper, K. R., & Eccles, J. C. (1977). The Self and Its Brain<\/em>. Springer.<\/li>\n
  11. \u00a0Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT) proposed by Victor Lamme.
    \n– Suggests that consciousness arises from recurrent (looping) activity in cortical networks.
    \n– When neural activity is only feedforward, it remains unconscious.<\/li>\n
  12. Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) proposed by Penrose and Hameroff
    \n– suggests that consciousness arises from quantum processes within microtubules in brain neurons.
    \n– claims that quantum coherence and reduction of wavefunctions within microtubules play a fundamental role in conscious experience.
    \n– highly controversial
    \n– Hameroff, S., & Penrose, R. (1996). Orchestrated reduction of quantum coherence in brain microtubules: A model for consciousness<\/em>. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 40(3-4), 453-480.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    No single theory is universally accepted. Some researchers believe that an integrated approach combining multiple theories may be necessary to fully explain consciousness. I am still intrigued by John John Eccles and Karl Popper<\/a> book that I read in 1989 which may still be valid although containing “unscientific” metaphysical elements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    A new paper now just identifies the\u00a0 unscientific elements in he IIT \/ integrated information theory<\/a><\/p>\n

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    One well-known proposal \u2014 integrated information theory \u2014 has recently been labeled as \u2018pseudoscience\u2019,\u00a0 which has caused a heated open debate.\u00a0Here we discuss the case and argue that the theory is indeed unscientific because its core claims are untestable even in principle.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    While I agree that IIT is not scientific for\u00a0limited empirical support, I have doubts if this is a sufficient cause to deny the validity of the argument.\u00a0 Also metapyhsically <\/span>\u00a0a priori<\/i> methods are justifed even if the rely<\/a> only “on rational intuition and abstract reasoning from general principles rather than sensory experience.”<\/p>\n

    Independent of that, I am sharing the concerns of the authors if some untested theories like IIT is leading to serious consequences<\/p>\n

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    By promoting to the general public the untestable idea that \u2018\u03a6 = consciousness\u2019, proponents of\u00a0<\/span>IIT may ultimately have an unjustified effect on law and policy, includ<\/span>ing on decisions that involve measures of quality of life, clinical triage,\u00a0<\/span>abortion, the rights of non-responsive patients, and welfare considerations for insects (?), organoids and artificial intelligences.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 08.04.2026<\/span>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The most recent discussion abut consciousness was going in circles, having now a dozen of competing theories as summarized \u00a0by chatGPT and reworked by me for omissions. Not sure if all the summaries and references are good, but maybe this is a good starting point to understand the background of \u00a0a new paper.   CC-BY-NC … Continue reading The great consciousness debate<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-note-worthy","category-philosophy-of-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24823"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24892,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24823\/revisions\/24892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wjst.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}