What is a global state of consciousness?
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences December 30, 2020 DOI: 10.33735/phimisci.2020.ii.58 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Consciousness Altered state State computer science Construct python library Cognitive science Epistemology Cognition Algorithm |
| Citations | 28 |
| Key points | Argues that global states of consciousness are capacity modulations, not phenomenal states, and that the NCC framework is insufficient for studying them. |
Abstract
The notion of a global state (or level) of consciousness is an increasingly important construct in the science of consciousness. However, exactly what a global state of consciousness is remains poorly understood. In this paper I offer an account of global states of consciousness as consciousness-related capacity modulations. On this view global states are not themselves phenomenal states – they are not occurring experiences. Rather, they are states that specify which of a creature’s overall consciousness-related capacities are currently online. Given that the search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), as it is currently conceived, is the search for the neural basis of occurrent experiences, the NCC framework is incapable of revealing the neural basis of global states. As such, a mature science of consciousness will need to move beyond the search for NCCs, as that project is currently conceived.
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Cited by 20
- Consciousness and complexity: a consilience of evidence Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021
- Degrees of consciousness Noûs August 4, 2022
- Depression as a Disorder of Consciousness The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science August 16, 2021
- Complex slow waves in the human brain under 5-MeO-DMT. Cell Reports July 22, 2025
- Complex slow waves radically reorganise human brain dynamics under 5-MeO-DMT bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) October 7, 2024
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Cites 38
- Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems Nature Reviews Neuroscience April 20, 2016
- Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology and neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences December 1, 2007
- Two neural correlates of consciousness Trends in Cognitive Sciences January 13, 2005
- The Neural Correlates of Consciousness Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences March 1, 2008
- Distilling the neural correlates of consciousness Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews December 17, 2011
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