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 › Embodied
Gefter’s Enactive-QBist Engagement
Self and World Co-Enacted Through Participation
Amanda Gefter proposes uniting QBism, which treats quantum theory as a user’s manual for agents in a participatory universe, with enactivism, which treats cognition as an organism enacting the boundary between itself and its world. QBism explains how the world is made and remade through an agent’s interactions; enactivism explains how agents are made and remade through interactions with the world. Together, Gefter argues, they give one post-Cartesian metaphysics in which self and world are co-enacted.
Amanda Gefter
What consciousness is
Consciousness belongs to the ongoing, normatively constrained enactment of the subject–object boundary, in which agent and world bring each other forth through interaction.
Mind and body
Gefter rejects an absolute subject–object split, the precondition for both materialism and idealism. The body is ‘an ongoing verb rather than a pregiven noun’, making itself in participation with the world and functioning as both subject and object.
Mechanism
Mutual enactment: quantum measurement enacts the subject–object divide from the world’s side, and cognition enacts it from the agent’s side, as two halves of one participatory process.
Core claims
- QBism needs enactivism’s non-Cartesian definitions of agent, experience, belief and normativity to answer charges of solipsism and idealism.
- Enactivism needs QBism’s participatory physics, since acting within a classical, observer-independent world would make it incoherent.
- Intersubjective agreement is achieved in live interaction, as in De Jaegher and Di Paolo’s participatory sense-making, rather than fixed by pre-existing facts.
- Both frameworks oppose the same 17th-century Cartesian split, so each tells half of one story.
Criticisms
Classification is contested: Gefter denies her view is materialist, while Kuhn places enactivism under Materialism because it posits nothing beyond current physics but would not classify QBism there. Both QBism and enactivism already face uphill battles against entrenched views of world and self.
Implications
- AI consciousness: Unlikely
- Since agents arise through autopoiesis and sense-making, a system that does not produce and maintain itself in engagement with its world would not count as an agent in the enactive sense.
- Survival beyond death: Unlikely
- The self exists only as an ongoing enactment by a living body in participation with its world, which gives nothing to continue once that process stops.
- Meaning and purpose: Cosmic/Ultimate
- Gefter envisions a participatory ontology where meaning, agency and reality are inseparable from the acts that bring them forth, so meaning is part of how reality itself is constituted.
- Virtual immortality: Unlikely
- Anti-representationalism means there is no internal model of a self to copy; the self is a living process of engagement.
Related theories
Sources
- Gefter’s Enaction for QBists, Amanda Gefter (2024)
- Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn, Amanda Gefter
Explore all theories on the Consciousness Atlas
