The Structure of Consciousness
PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) March 15, 2026 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19025772 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that consciousness is a structural relation, an oriented, boundary-maintaining, coherence-preserving modeling relation between a system and the world, rather than a property, process, or neural signature. Proposes this relational ontology unifies global workspace, integrated information, higher-order, recurrent processing, and predictive processing theories as projections of one underlying structure, and contends the "hard problem" is a category error. |
Abstract
The Structure of Consciousness identifies the generative layer that unifies the scientific and philosophical study of consciousness. Instead of treating consciousness as a property, process, or neural signature, the paper shows that consciousness is a structural relation: an oriented, boundary‑maintaining, coherence‑preserving modeling relation between a system and the world. This relational ontology dissolves long‑standing divisions between global workspace, integrated information, higher‑order, recurrent processing, and predictive processing theories by revealing each as a projection of the same underlying structure. The paper reframes the “hard problem” as a category error, clarifies the conditions under which consciousness arises, and provides a scale‑invariant account applicable to biological, artificial, and collective systems. It offers a single, coherent object of study that allows the field to converge after decades of fragmentation.