The Problem with the 'Information' in Integrated Information Theory
Journal of Consciousness Studies 24 (7-8):130-154 (2017)
Abstract
Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of Consciousness is becoming an increasingly popular neuroscientific account of phenomenal experience. IIT claims that consciousness is integrated information in a system. I set this theory against the hard problem of consciousness (Chalmers, 1996, 1995) as the goal for a theory of consciousness to meet. In this essay I look to examine and ultimately critique IIT’s use of the notion of information to base a theory of consciousness. I argue that the notion of information in IIT is a purely structural-dynamical notion, and so falls afoul of the structure and dynamics argument (Chalmers, 2003). I bolster these claims by appeal to the explanatory gap argument and show how IIT succumbs to this argument as well. For these reasons, I call into doubt IIT’s ability to answer the hard problem of consciousness. Although this paper argues against the notion of information in IIT, in a broader context the criticisms which I raise here can be brought against any theory that attempts to explain consciousness as an information-theoretic phenomenon.Author's Profile
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Citations of this work
Is Consciousness Intrinsic?: A Problem for the Integrated Information Theory.Hedda Hassel Mørch - 2019 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 26 (1-2):133-162(30).
Towards a Neutral-Structuralist Theory of Consciousness and Selfhood.Janko Nešić - forthcoming - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science:1-17.
Intervening on the Causal Exclusion Problem for Integrated Information Theory.Matthew Baxendale & Garrett Mindt - 2018 - Minds and Machines 28 (2):331-351.
Of integrated information theory: a philosophical evaluation.Haoying Liu - 2019 - Philosophical Psychology 33 (3):442-468.
Refuting the unfolding-argument on the irrelevance of causal structure to consciousness.Marius Usher - 2021 - Consciousness and Cognition 95:103212.