Theories of consciousness typically explain subjective experience post hoc: they begin by assuming a subject — a system, an organism, a unified “self” — and only then ask how this subject comes to have experience. This paper presents the Collective Theory of Subjectivity (CTS), which proposes an inversion of this order. Instead of asking how an already-existing system acquires subjectivity, CTS...
What is the nature of consciousness? How and why did it arise? What is the source of subjectivity as a key aspect of consciousness? The short answer to all three questions is collective behavior. This study presents the collective theory of consciousness which considers consciousness as collective or shared knowledge aimed at coordinating collective behavior. I show that any collective or...