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Methodological structuralism and the two-factor approach: Implications for consciousness science and AI

Resource type
Journal Article
Author/contributor
Title
Methodological structuralism and the two-factor approach: Implications for consciousness science and AI
Abstract
Methodological structuralism is a research program that seeks to identify neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) by mapping phenomenal similarity relationships onto the similarity relations between neural population activity. This paper presents a discussion of the potential benefits of methodological structuralism for the neurosciences of consciousness, namely as a specific theory of neural content encoding. In order to achieve this, I supplement it with a metatheoretical framework concerning the relationship between content and consciousness: the two-factor interaction view. Although structuralism provides a comprehensive description of the neural encoding of content, it is inadequate for fully explaining the conscious experience of contents. The majority of current theories of consciousness posit the existence of an additional mechanism that underlies the conscious experience of content. Consequently, if structuralism is indeed correct, progress in consciousness science can be achieved by investigating the interactions between neural mechanisms responsible for consciousness and structures in neural population code activity accounting for the structure of contents. This also has significant implications for consciousness in AI. I discuss these implications, as well as potential empirical avenues for investigating the interaction between content structures and consciousness with cutting-edge neuroscientific methodologies.
Publication
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
Date
2025-08-06
Volume
6
Accessed
2/1/26, 9:07 AM
ISSN
2699-0369
Short Title
Methodological structuralism and the two-factor approach
Language
en
Library Catalog
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Lukas Kob
Citation
Kob, L. (2025). Methodological structuralism and the two-factor approach: Implications for consciousness science and AI. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 6. https://doi.org/10.33735/phimisci.2025.11760