From Philosophy to Physics of the Mind: Teleological Transduction Theory
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) February 15, 2026 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18646481 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Teleology Natural archaeology Physical science Object grammar Causality physics Causation Philosophy of science Mental representation Physical law Epistemology Cognitive science Natural kind |
| Key findings | A theory is reviewed that aims to explain the physical causes of mental phenomena in the brain, potentially solving the mind-body problem. |
Abstract
For millennia, the mind-body problem remained a philosophical issue without an empirical basis and practical implications. In recent decades, natural science has finally started to treat the mind as an object of research. The main approach was to study the ‘neural correlates of consciousness’. Since then, we have accumulated a vast amount of data on neural processes that appear to correlate with observed mental phenomena. However, the explanatory gap between mental and physical is not covered, as the main questions about the mind remain unanswered. What is the mind? What does it do? Why does it do it? How does it do it? The article reviews a theory that aims to answer these phenomenological, functional, teleological, and causal questions from the physical perspective. The theory elucidates physical processes and mechanisms that give rise to mental phenomena in the brain, thus enabling neuroscience to progress from correlational descriptions to an explanation of the physical causes of the mind and solve the mind-body problem.