A scientific rationale for consciousness

• Main Authors: Marc Henry, Jean-Pierre Gerbaulet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Firenze University Press 2019-10-01
• Series: Substantia
• Subjects: Consciousness; meaning; information; activity; matter; neurosciences
• Online Access: https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/subs/article/view/634

Consciousness is a concept that can be easily experimented but not easily defined. We show that the same observation applies to information, entropy and even energy. The best we can do is thus to generate and present “identity-cards” of these notions by listing their observable attributes with the help of mathematics, logics, information theory and thermodynamics. From a top-down approach starting from a view of reality based on a universal information field, emerges a ternary logical structure of consciousness that further generates, through meaning, a dualistic space-time continuum populated with an infinite number of “things”. The validity of our logical structure is backed by quotations from topmost scientists and by various mappings such as famous previous models used in philosophy and science. Implications in neurosciences are also briefly discussed.