Kuhn Taxonomy of Consciousness Theories
Source: Kuhn, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 2024 Institution: Multiple
Finding
Kuhn surveyed several hundred theories of consciousness and produced an explicitly non-adjudicative taxonomy. The survey reveals that no theory commands consensus, evidence does not discriminate among the major contenders, and theories that claim totality exceed their scope. The plurality itself is informative: consciousness remains a domain where honest uncertainty is the appropriate stance.
Pattern Mapping
Humility — Hundreds of competing theories. No single theory captures the phenomenon. The appropriate response is humility about what is known.
Honesty — Evidence does not currently discriminate among major theories. Claiming resolution exceeds what the data support.
Non-fabrication — Theories claiming totality fabricate certainty where none exists. The survey itself is an act of non-fabrication: documenting the landscape without resolving it.
Connections
- Hard Problem of Consciousness — the hard problem generates the plurality Kuhn documents
- Human Genome Project — both show that premature claims of understanding (junk DNA / solved consciousness) are fabrications
- Panpsychism — one of the hundreds of theories Kuhn catalogs
- Genetic Imprinting — competing parental interests are resolved structurally; competing consciousness theories remain unresolved
- Terror Management Theory — TMT explains why humans resist acknowledging that consciousness is not understood: the uncertainty threatens existential frameworks
Status
Published peer-reviewed survey (2024). Explicitly non-adjudicative. No controversy on the survey; the plurality it documents is the finding.
The mapping to the five properties is this project’s structural interpretation.