Body, Language, and the Emergence of Inner Life: The First Encounter of Causes and Reasons
Zlatko Pangarić
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 13, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20150723 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Proposes an emergent model of consciousness grounded in a philosophy of "locality," in which life is the first locality where physical causes become organized to generate reasons (purpose and normativity). The author argues this framework avoids both dualism, which treats consciousness as a special substance, and reductionism, which treats it as an illusion. |
Abstract
What is consciousness? Where does it come from? This paper offers an answer that is neither dualistic (consciousness as a special substance) nor reductionistic (consciousness as an illusion). Starting from the philosophy of locality – an ontological framework in which life is the first locality within which causes (physics) become organized so as to generate reasons (purpose, normativity) – the paper outlines an emergent model of consciousness.