Skip to content

John Cantellow

8 papers in the library · publishing 2026

Papers

Sort Most recent Most cited

From Operational Indexing to Experiential Localization: A Comparative Organizational Framework for Probabilistic Inference about Animal Consciousness

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) September 13, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper develops Experiential Localization (EL) as a comparative organizational framework for probabilistic inference concerning animal consciousness. The central problem is that experiential accessibility cannot be directly observed across species, while behavioural and biological evidence can nevertheless alter confidence among competing interpretations. The framework distinguishes...

Invariant Phenomenological Grammar and Experiential Localization: A Constraint-Based Account of Conscious Organization

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 10, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper develops a provisional phenomenological and constraint-based framework for investigating the organizational conditions of coherent experience. Beginning from the observation that dreaming, contemplative states, near-death experiences, and other forms of altered and extraordinary phenomenology may remain recognizably experience-like despite substantial variation in embodiment,...

The Organization of Consciousness: Observer Organization, Actor Organization, and the Biological Localization of Experience

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) June 25, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper extends a previously developed constraint-based framework in which increasingly stable forms of organization emerge progressively from physical structure to conscious experience. It proposes that ordinary waking consciousness may not represent consciousness in its most primitive form but instead a highly organized and biologically localized regime arising through the integration of...

A Phenomenological Bridge: Experiential Persistence, Constraint Organization, and the Relationship Between Physical and Spiritual Descriptions of Consciousness

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) June 19, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper develops a third stage in an ongoing organizational approach to consciousness. Building upon earlier work concerning Experiential Presence, organizational regimes, and extraordinary conscious experience, it explores whether phenomenological consciousness may occupy an intermediate position linking physical and spiritual descriptions of consciousness. Contemporary neuroscience...

Invariants, Organizational Regimes, and Transition Dynamics: Toward an Organizational Framework for Extraordinary Conscious Experience

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) June 13, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper develops an invariant-based organizational framework for extraordinary conscious experiences. Building upon previous work concerning constraint organization and organizational continuity, the analysis shifts attention away from variable experiential contents and toward conserved phenomenological characteristics that may persist across diverse forms of extraordinary experience. Six...

Experiential Presence and the Problem of Selfhood: A Candidate Invariant of Consciousness?

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 31, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper explores the possibility that conscious experience may possess a more fundamental and persistent feature than many forms of selfhood ordinarily associated with consciousness. Drawing upon reports from dreaming, contemplative practice, psychedelic states, nondual awareness, and other altered conditions, the paper examines a recurring observation: autobiographical identity, agency,...

Microtubules, Constraint Organisation, and Conscious Accessibility: Extending a Contributory Constraint Framework of Consciousness

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 28, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper extends an earlier constraint-based framework of consciousness (Cantellow, 2026) by examining whether recent developments in intracellular neuroscience—particularly renewed attention toward microtubules and anesthetic mechanisms—may support a reinterpretation of consciousness in terms of contribution, organization, and accessibility rather than exclusive reliance upon generative...

Constraint Organization and Consciousness: Reconsidering Extraordinary Phenomenology Within Physical Causal Closure

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 23, 2026 John Cantellow

This paper develops a constraint-based organizational framework for consciousness that seeks to reconcile extraordinary conscious experience with physical causal closure without appealing to supernatural intervention or non-physical causal forces. Building upon an earlier Three Modes of Consciousness Hypothesis, the paper proposes that waking consciousness, extraordinary consciousness, and...