The Science of Consciousness Beyond Neuroscience

Abstract

The science of consciousness requires multiple disciplines. There are complex philosophical questions that need to be understood, physical restrictions to consider, biological organisation that seems relevant to conscious beings, and phenomenological and psychological aspects that can not be studied under quantitative methods only. Today, however, scientific models of consciousness target a few aspects and little dialogue is found among them, even less among fields. In this article, we react to this current state of consciousness research and motivate a transdisciplinary, diverse and rigorous approach. We first introduce how the primacy of experience generates an explanatory paradox for mechanistic accounts and how to avoid it with a broader perspective. We follow by presenting tools such as mereological distinctions (constitution and causation), constraint-types of explanations and a sound axiomatic strategy for empirical and theoretical research. This critical and constructive reading motivates open dialogue and intellectual humility. We end our contribution by offering collaborative paths beyond neuroscience and calling for a fruitful exchange between different models of consciousness. This, we argue, might be the only way to solve and/or dissolve the "problem" of consciousness.