A relational approach to consciousness: categories of level and contents of consciousness
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- Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University , Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia
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- Hayato Saigo
- Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology , 1266 Tamura-cho, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0829, Japan
抄録
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Characterizing consciousness in and of itself is notoriously difficult. Here, we propose an alternative approach to characterize, and eventually define, consciousness through exhaustive descriptions of consciousness’ relationships to all other consciousness. This approach is founded in category theory. Indeed, category theory can prove that two objects A and B in a category can be equivalent if and only if all the relationships that A holds with others in the category are the same as those of B; this proof is called the Yoneda lemma. To introduce the Yoneda lemma, we gradually introduce key concepts of category theory to consciousness researchers. Along the way, we propose several possible definitions of categories of consciousness, both in terms of level and contents, through the usage of simple examples. We propose to use the categorical structure of consciousness as a gold standard to formalize empirical research (e.g. color qualia structure at fovea and periphery) and, especially, the empirical testing of theories of consciousness.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Neuroscience of Consciousness
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Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021 (2), niab034-, 2021-01-01
Oxford University Press (OUP)