arXiv Preprint Archive
August 19, 2026
Jeremiah Hendren, Matteo Grasso, Francesco Ellia et al.
preprint
Integrated Information Theory (IIT) proposes that all quality is structure: the quality of every experience can be characterized as a phenomenal structure and accounted for as a causal structure. The IIT method can be called intrinsic in that, first, it starts by characterizing the intrinsic structure of a single experience in an absolute sense (not relative to other experiences) and, second,...
August 16, 2026
Francesco Ellia, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
preprint
Consciousness science remains caught between a first-person approach that cannot independently corroborate its data and a third-person approach that excludes its target of explanation. We argue that this is a false dichotomy, and propose a third option, the first-person plural perspective (FPP): the position that the primary route of epistemic access to the structure of experience is the plural...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
April 7, 2026
Francesco Ellia, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Contemporary consciousness science faces an impasse: competing theoretical frameworks-structuralist versus functionalist, universal versus local, intrinsic versus extrinsic-appear to be inducing philosophical deadlocks and conceptual standstills. While these debates have generated valuable insights, they have proceeded in parallel, without a systematic framework for understanding their...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
March 2, 2026
Francesco Ellia, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Recent advances in consciousness neuroscience have exposed a critical impasse: competing theoretical frameworks, structuralist vs. functionalist (Fleming & Shea 2024, 2024b; Song 2024, Ellia & Tsuchiya 2024; Kleiner 2024), universal vs. local (Albantakis et al. 2023; Kanai & Fujisawa 2024; Fleming 2024); intrinsic vs. extrinsic (Cohen and Dennett 2011; Doerig et al. 2019; Tsuchiya et al 2020;...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2025
Francesco Ellia, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
2 citations
This commentary engages with recent work on computational functionalist theories of consciousness through a structural lens. We address three key aspects: the role of subjective experience in theory building, the hypothesis regarding local lateral connectivity in sensory areas, and the implications of "silent units" for consciousness. We argue that while their structural turn is welcome, many...
Consciousness and Cognition
April 1, 2022
Francesco Ellia, Robert Chis-Ciure
In this paper we take a meta-theoretical stance and compare and assess two conceptual frameworks that endeavor to explain phenomenal experience. In particular, we compare Feinberg & Mallatt's Neurobiological Naturalism (NN) and Tononi's and colleagues Integrated Information Theory (IIT), given that the former pointed out some similarities between the two theories (Feinberg & Mallatt 2016c-d)....
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2021
Francesco Ellia, Jeremiah Hendren, Matteo Grasso et al.
61 citations
Objective correlates-behavioral, functional, and neural-provide essential tools for the scientific study of consciousness. But reliance on these correlates should not lead to the 'fallacy of misplaced objectivity': the assumption that only objective properties should and can be accounted for objectively through science. Instead, what needs to be explained scientifically is what experience is...
Robert Chis-Ciure, Francesco Ellia
preprint
In this paper we provide a philosophical analysis of the Hard Problem of consciousness and the implications of conceivability scenarios for current neuroscientific research. In particular, we focus on one of the most prominent neuroscientific theories of consciousness, Integrated Information Theory (IIT). After a brief introduction on IIT, we present Chalmers’ original formulation and propose...
Francesco Ellia, Robert Chis-Ciure
preprint
In this paper we take a meta-theoretical stance to compare two frameworks that endeavor to explain phenomenal experience. In particular, we compare Feinberg & Mallatt’s Neurobiological Naturalism (NN) and Tononi and colleagues’ Integrated Information Theory (IIT), given that the former pointed out some similarities between the two theories (Feinberg & Mallatt 2016c-d). To probe how similar they...