Applying category theory to the study of consciousness?
December 27, 2022 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/3vhg9 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that category theory offers a promising framework for studying consciousness, illustrated through integrated information theory, but that its categorical representation, especially of phenomenological structure, needs further development. Contends that understanding consciousness requires more than studying the physical brain, and proposes applications in computer science and artificial intelligence while emphasizing the primacy of first-personal experience. |
Abstract
What are the potential uses and misuses of applying category theory to the study of consciousness? We first review a recent proposal from the neurosciences of consciousness to illustrate the general approach using the integrated information theory of consciousness. We then propose possible avenues for further research, importantly also stressing the need to better develop the categorical representation of consciousness, in particular its phenomenological structure. A better understanding of consciousness cannot be achieved by merely studying the physical brain. By contrast, the categorical treatment suggests application in the domain of computer science and artificial intelligence research while also emphasizing the primacy of (first-personal) experience.
Citations in the library
Cites 29
- Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems Nature Reviews Neuroscience April 20, 2016
- Why Does Space Feel the Way it Does? Towards a Principled Account of Spatial Experience Entropy November 27, 2019
- Explanatory profiles of models of consciousness - towards a systematic classification. Neuroscience of Consciousness August 27, 2021
- Consciousness and the fallacy of misplaced objectivity. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021
- Neurophenomenal structuralism. A philosophical agenda for a structuralist neuroscience of consciousness. Neuroscience of Consciousness August 23, 2022
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