Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Many consciousness researchers seem to assume that the field will eventually converge on a single, comprehensive theory that can fully explain consciousness. This assumption is often accompanied by the assumption that consciousness is a single and unitary phenomenon. In practice, however, consciousness science is deeply fragmented in three interrelated ways: conceptually, methodologically, and in terms of explanation. We draw on the philosophy of science to offer a pluralistic proposal that reinterprets this fragmentation as a resource for progress rather than a problem to be eliminated. Without requiring convergence on a single methodological approach, a single concept of consciousness, or a single explanatory mechanism, pluralistic integration can support a new, more productive research agenda for the science of consciousness and its theories.
Authors: Negro, Niccolo, Francken, Jolien C.
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7172087084