Consciousness – The grand tour, by Michael Herzog

We will have the pleasure of welcoming Michael Herzog from EPFL Lausanne for a seminar entitled :

« Consciousness – The grand tour »

Abstract There is a plethora of scientific theories of consciousness, which sets this field apart from most other research areas, where only a few theories typically compete with each other. One reason for this rapid proliferation is the absence of clear-cut criteria that a theory of consciousness needs to satisfy. In the first part, I will show that most empirical theories, such as GNWS, IIT, HOT, RPT, and OrchOR, fall into five categories, each associated with a specific challenge that limits their explanatory power. In the second part, I will argue that these five challenges ultimately revolve around two fundamental issues: mono-factorial, silver-bullet explanations, and a lack of role (we are searching for a problem for which consciousness is the solution). I propose that addressing these issues may open up new avenues in consciousness research. A comparison with more philosophically inclined theories will conclude the talk.