Consciousness, complexity, and evolution.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences March 23, 2022 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x21001825 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the intuition linking consciousness and complexity can be recovered by replacing integrated information theory's biologically neutral complexity with an evolutionary notion termed 'pathological complexity'. |
Abstract
The idea that consciousness and complexity are closely related has been a major driver of the popularity of integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness, despite its major formal, phenomenological, and neuroscientific shortcomings. Here, I argue that we can recover this intuition by replacing its biologically neutral notion of complexity with an evolutionary one that I shall dub "pathological complexity."
Citations in the library
Cited by 9
- The Origins of Consciousness or the War of the Five Dimensions Biological Theory August 25, 2022
- Health, consciousness, and the evolution of subjects. Synthese 2023
- Comparative Consciousness Research in Ecological Context: Elephants, Macaques, Plovers, and a Case Against Plant Consciousness Adaptive Behavior February 1, 2026
- On the Evolution, Science, and Metaphysics of Consciousness Adaptive Behavior December 27, 2025
- The role of consciousness in adaptive behaviour: A philosophy for the science of animal consciousness Adaptive Behavior June 1, 2025
and 4 more in the library
Cites 6
- An information integration theory of consciousness BMC Neuroscience November 2, 2004
- Consciousness as Integrated Information: a Provisional Manifesto Biological Bulletin December 1, 2008
- Integrated information theory of consciousness: an updated account. December 1, 2012
- The Measurement Problem of Consciousness Philosophical Topics 2020
- Consciousness: here, there and everywhere? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences May 19, 2015
and 1 more in the library