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
Akselrud's Explanatory Faculty: Consciousness as Internalized Explanation
Consciousness as Internalized Explanation
Boris Akselrud identifies phenomenal consciousness with the mind's innate, ungrounded capacity to generate and recognize explanations, turned back on its own states. He denies the hard problem: it is a clash between two incompatible ways of explaining (impersonal physical law and first-person givenness), and that clash belongs to the structure of explanation, not to nature.
Boris Akselrud
What consciousness is
Consciousness is the explanatory faculty exercised inwardly. When the mind recognizes why it thought or acted as it did, it becomes both subject and object of explanation, and that recursion is minimal self-consciousness.
Mind and body
Akselrud treats the mind-body problem as a collision of explanatory modes. Physical lawfulness and first-person givenness each work alone and turn paradoxical when fused, as in the quantum measurement problem.
Mechanism
Reflexive application of the explanatory faculty. Akselrud places it beneath higher-order theories, since any higher-order representation would itself have to be recognized as explanatory by this terminal act.
Core claims
- Minimal self-consciousness is the recursion in which the mind explains its own thoughts and actions to itself.
- Developmental studies show infants testing hypotheses matched to expectation violations and children ending exploration once an anomaly is explained, suggesting recognition governs inquiry.
- The explanatory gap is the sharpest case of a general friction among human explanations, none of which fully cohere.
- Every organism is sealed within its own faculty, so humans are as enclosed within explanation as Nagel's bat is within echolocation.
- The coexistence of hundreds of rival theories of consciousness is the predicted signature of this enclosure, not a sign of an immature field.
Criticisms
The account denies phenomenality's puzzle instead of explaining it and offers no mechanism. It rests on an asserted primitive faculty whose existence and human uniqueness are not independently shown.
Implications
- AI consciousness: Uncertain
- Akselrud treats the explanatory faculty as a given human endowment and does not say whether a machine could have it.
- Survival beyond death: Unlikely
- Since consciousness here is a faculty of an organism, comparable to a bird's flight, the view gives it no way to continue without the organism.
Related theories
Sources
- Homo sapiens: The Species That Explains (manuscript), Boris Akselrud (2025)
- Akselrud's Explanatory Faculty: Consciousness as Internalized Explanation (Landscape of Consciousness entry), Boris Akselrud
- A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications, Robert Lawrence Kuhn (2024)
Explore all theories on the Consciousness Atlas
