Consciousness as a Physical Process Caused by the Organization of Energy in the Brain

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Author
Pepperell, Robert
Date
2018-11-01Acceptance date
2018-10-10
Type
Article
Publisher
Frontiers Media
ISSN
1664-1078
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
To explain consciousness as a physical process we must acknowledge the role of energy in the brain. Energetic activity is fundamental to all physical processes and causally drives biological behavior. Recent neuroscientific evidence can be interpreted in a way that suggests consciousness is a product of the organization of energetic activity in the brain. The nature of energy itself, though, remains largely mysterious, and we do not fully understand how it contributes to brain function or consciousness. According to the principle outlined here, energy, along with forces and work, can be described as actualized differences of motion and tension. By observing physical systems, we can infer there is something it is like to undergo actualized difference from the intrinsic perspective of the system. Consciousness occurs because there is something it is like, intrinsically, to undergo a certain organization of actualized differences in the brain.
Journal/conference proceeding
Frontiers in Psychology;
Citation
Pepperell, R. (2018) 'Consciousness as a physical process caused by the organization of energy in the brain', Frontiers in Psychology, 9. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02091.
Description
Article published in Frontiers in Psychology on 01 November 2018, available open access at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02091.
Sponsorship
Cardiff Metropolitan University (Grant ID: Cardiff Metropolian (Internal))
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- Fovolab [41]
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