The Consciousness Atlas is an interactive web app that visualizes more
than 450 theories of consciousness. It is based on Robert Lawrence
Kuhn's 2024 paper,
"A Landscape of Consciousness". The Atlas maps theories that address phenomenal consciousness - the
subjective feel of experience, such as the redness of red.
What the Atlas is
The Atlas is a visual reference built on Kuhn's taxonomy. It presents
the full set of theories at once so you can explore the field visually
and open any theory to read its entry, like an encyclopedia with
structured entries. Each theory entry shows a concise identity line,
conceptual ground, suggested mechanism, empirical notes, implications,
and sources.
Why this exists
Consciousness is studied across disciplines - neuroscience,
philosophy, and sometimes spiritual or anomalous-state research.
Kuhn's paper collects and organizes hundreds of theories along a
spectrum from most physical to least physical. The Atlas puts that
organization into a visual form so readers, students, and researchers
can quickly see how different positions relate and where each theory
sits on the spectrum.
How it works
Theories are grouped into ten main categories, arranged by their
stance on the physical-to-nonphysical spectrum. Examples of categories
include Materialism, Non-Reductive Physicalism, Functionalism,
Quantum-based theories, Panpsychism, Monism, Dualism, Idealism,
Anomalous States, and Challenge Theories. The app shows the whole map
at once. Click any theory to read its structured entry, which includes
references to canonical sources and named thinkers.
Who it is for
- Students learning philosophy of mind and cognitive science
-
Researchers and lecturers looking for an at-a-glance comparative
resource
-
Journalists and writers who need a quick reference to the range of
positions
-
Curious readers who want a clear view of what people mean when they
talk about consciousness
What the Atlas does not do
The Atlas does not endorse or rank theories. It is a visualization and
reference based on Kuhn's taxonomy - collect and present, not judge.
It does not attempt to settle the hard problem of consciousness. It is
a tool for exploration and comparison.
A note from Kuhn
Kuhn explicitly states the project's purpose: "collect and categorize,
not assess and adjudicate." The Consciousness Atlas follows that
approach. The data and structure are derived from Kuhn's paper;
feedback and suggested corrections are welcome, but the app is a
visualization layer on top of Kuhn's work.
Kuhn was not involved in the design or content of the Consciousness
Atlas, other than his original paper, 'A Landscape of Consciousness,'
which is the sole source.
FAQ
What is phenomenal consciousness?
Phenomenal consciousness refers to subjective experience - the
qualitative feel of being aware, like the taste of coffee or the
redness of red.
How many theories does the Atlas include?
The Atlas visualizes over 220 individual theories, grouped into ten
broad categories.
Does the Atlas show which theory is true?
No. The Atlas presents theories neutrally. It is a map, not an
argument for any single position.
Is the Atlas academic?
The Atlas is based on an academic source - Robert Kuhn's 2024 paper,
"A Landscape of Consciousness" - and links to canonical sources
where available.
Summary
The Consciousness Atlas is a straightforward visualization tool: it
presents Kuhn's taxonomy as a single, explorable map and lets users
open individual theory entries to read structured, referenced
summaries. It is designed to make this complex field easier to survey
and to serve as a practical reference.
Challenge
Champagne’s Semiotic Account
Qualia as Prescinded Tones in a Semiotic Framework
Marc Champagne builds on C. S. Peirce to argue that experiential qualities can be separated from their causal and inferential relations only in thought (‘prescission’), never in fact. Adding ‘tone’ to the type/token distinction and stressing reference by resemblance (iconicity), he aims to make qualia explanatorily ordinary and to dissolve the hard problem by not reifying the distinction that creates it.
Marc Champagne, Charles Sanders Peirce
What consciousness is
Qualities are ‘tones’, primitive sign-vehicles prior to any instantiation or use. Human consciousness of qualities is the power to isolate the individual qualities that make up patterns, by prescission.
Mind and body
Champagne divides the labor: scientists explain everything, and philosophers justify the persistent sense that this is not enough. Those who find materialism insufficient are not victims of an illusion.
Mechanism
Prescission: separating a quality from its relations less than physically but more than verbally. Peirce developed it for formal logic, which makes it a shareable, unmysterious tool.
Core claims
- Peirce's full typology of type, token, and tone captures distinctions lost in debates over type-physicalism and token identity.
- Resemblance conveys experiential content in a way that differs from both convention and causation.
- Chalmers first narrows ‘experience’ and only then asks us to conceive zombies, so the real work happens in the quality/function distinction, which is intelligible without dualism.
- Peirce, who coined ‘qualia’ and founded pragmatism, shows that pragmatic verification and qualia need not conflict.
Criticisms
The framework demands familiarity with semiotics, an underexplored discipline, and conflicts with entrenched assumptions. Joining ‘we do prescission’ with ‘its results are not up to us’ strikes many as unstable, since reality is usually equated with mind-independence.
Implications
- Survival beyond death: No
- Champagne rejects reductive materialism but says hopes for immortality that often accompany that rejection cannot be accommodated.
Related theories
Sources
- Consciousness and the Philosophy of Signs: How Peircean Semiotics Combines Phenomenal Qualia and Practical Effects, Marc Champagne (2018)
- Explaining the Qualitative Dimension of Consciousness: Prescission instead of Reification, Marc Champagne (2009)
- Referring to the Qualitative Dimension of Consciousness: Iconicity Instead of Indexicality, Marc Champagne (2014)
- Can Pragmatists Believe in Qualia? The Founder of Pragmatism Certainly Did, Marc Champagne (2016)
- The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Charles Sanders Peirce
- A Watershed for Qualia: Marc Champagne’s Unified Theory of Consciousness, J. Pelkey (2019)
Explore all theories on the Consciousness Atlas
