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.
Materialism › Homeostatic
Budson’s Consciousness as a Memory System
Consciousness as the Episodic Memory System
Andrew Budson and colleagues argue that consciousness evolved as part of the episodic memory system, to bind experiences into storable episodes that can be flexibly recombined to simulate the future. Because the brain is too slow for awareness to guide real-time action, what we experience as perceiving the present is a memory of the world a few hundred milliseconds ago.
Andrew E. Budson
What consciousness is
Consciousness is the memory system: the ‘write’ function of episodic memory, which creates and retrieves explicit event memories. In Budson’s words, ‘we are not perceiving the world in real time; we are remembering it.’
Mind and body
Consciousness is identical with explicit memory, so its neural correlates are those of explicit memory: hippocampal episodic circuits working with distributed cortical systems.
Mechanism
The unconscious brain does fast parallel processing; consciousness renders selected results as an explicit, unified episode, stores it, and replays it to simulate future scenarios.
Core claims
- Awareness of a sensory event arrives after the motor system has already responded to it.
- The hippocampus and default mode network are active both when remembering the past and imagining the future.
- Episodic memory’s proneness to forgetting and false memories fits a system designed for flexible recombination.
- Memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease impair planning, problem-solving and abstract thought, which Budson treats as disorders of consciousness.
Criticisms
Budson describes consciousness both as the ‘write’ function of episodic memory and as identical with the whole memory system, and places its substrate both in hippocampal circuits and in the cortex as a whole. Treating memory disorders as disorders of consciousness stretches the usual meaning of the term, since such patients remain awake and aware.
Implications
- AI consciousness: Possible
- Since consciousness is identified with a functional memory system, an artificial system that creates, binds and replays explicit episodes to simulate the future could in principle qualify, though Budson does not address this.
- Survival beyond death: No
- Consciousness is the brain’s episodic memory system, so it ends when those circuits do.
- Meaning and purpose: Humanistic only
- Consciousness evolved to support flexible, adaptive and creative human behavior, with no purpose beyond the organism.
- Virtual immortality: Possible
- If the functional organization of episodic memory were reproduced, the view gives no principled reason why consciousness would not follow.
Related theories
Sources
- Consciousness as a Memory System, Andrew E. Budson and colleagues (2022)
Explore all theories on the Consciousness Atlas
