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.
Anomalous
Barušs’s Meaning Fields
Consciousness and Meaning Fields Shaping Reality
Imants Barušs proposes a transcendent theory in which consciousness may be fundamental, perhaps a deep consciousness coinciding with a pre-physical substrate, and in which ‘meaning fields’ defined at every point of space and time shape events. These fields carry meaning, can judge what falls under their influence, act nonlocally across space and time, and can be tuned and modified by human intention, which Barušs offers as a way to account for remote viewing, remote healing, and other anomalies.
Imants Barušs
What consciousness is
Consciousness may be a deep, pre-physical substrate from which intention shapes both mental experience and physical events, with meaning fields as the structures through which meaning organizes reality.
Mind and body
Barušs offers two options: consciousness enters physics as a primitive through intention’s role in selecting observables, collapsing the state vector, or ordering quantum fluctuations; or, more deeply, a pre-physical consciousness akin to Bohm’s implicate order gives rise to both mind and matter.
Mechanism
Meaning fields parse events and draw boundaries, making possibly non-algorithmic judgments, for instance ‘knowing’ which mouse belongs to a healing experiment. They act through whatever mechanism humans use in remote viewing and remote influencing.
Core claims
- A growing number of anomalies show knowledge applied without any apparent physical mechanism, which Barušs takes as reason to rethink the structure of the universe.
- A transcendent theory should cover all standard data on consciousness, including altered states and anomalous phenomena, address existential meaning, and agree with relativistic quantum field theory.
- Researchers’ beliefs about consciousness range along a material-to-transcendent dimension, and Barušs reports that more transcendent beliefs correlate with a more rational, curious approach.
- Meaning fields can be modeled mathematically using category theory.
Implications
- Meaning and purpose: Cosmic/Ultimate
- Meaning exists beyond humans in meaning fields, possibly including existential meaning, and Barušs requires a theory of consciousness to offer soteriological guidance.
Related theories
Sources
- Radical Transformation, Imants Barušs (2021)
- Barušs’s Meaning Fields (Landscape of Consciousness), Imants Barušs (2008)
Explore all theories on the Consciousness Atlas
