Chis-Ciure, R. - The Transcendental Deduction of Integrated Information Theory: Connecting the Axioms, Postulates, and Identity Through Categories (2022)

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness has been criticized for lack of clarity about how its phenomenological axioms relate to its postulates about cause-effect power. This theoretical paper argues that IIT rests on nine fundamental categories of reason that form a common root for both axioms and postulates. The connection between them is grounded in this categorial lexicon, which is justified through phenomenological and transcendental deduction. The analysis further distinguishes conceptual from formalized postulates, clarifies why categorial lexica are unique, and provides an IIT account of objectivity by showing how the physical is redefined through categories. These results aim to resolve criticisms of IIT's theoretical core and foster mutual understanding between defenders and critics.

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Abstract

This paper deals with a foundational aspect of Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness: the nature of the relation between the axioms of phenomenology and the postulates of cause-effect power. There has been a lack of clarity in the literature regarding this crucial issue, for which IIT has received much criticism of its axiomatic method and basic tenets. The present contribution elucidates the problem by means of a categorial analysis of the theory’s foundations. Its main results are that: (i) IIT has a set of nine fundamental concepts of reason, called categories, which constitute its categorial lexicon and through which it formulates a system of principles incorporating the axioms, the postulates, and the central identity; and (ii) the connection between the axioms and postulates is grounded by their common root in this categorial lexicon, the categories of which find their justification by means of a phenomenological and transcendental deduction. Some further results are the unique origin of axioms and postulates in the categories; the distinction between conceptual and formalized postulates; a clarification of the uniqueness problem of categorial lexica in general; and an IIT account of objectivity by explicating how the physical is (re)defined by means of categories. All of this is put to use against various criticism targeting IIT’s theoretical core. If successful, the proposed interpretation illuminates a central issue in the contemporary study of consciousness and contributes to an environment of mutual understanding between defenders and critics of the theory.