What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific?

IIT-Concerned; Derek H. Arnold; Mark Baxter; Tristan A. Bekinschtein; Yoshua Bengio; James Bisley; Jacob Browning; Dean Buonomano; David Carmel; Marisa Carrasco; Peter Carruthers; Olivia Carter; Dorita Chang; Ian Charest; Mouslim Cherkaoui; Axel Cleeremans; Michael Cohen; Philip Corlett; Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva; Sam Cumming; Cody A. Cushing; Beatrice de Gelder; Felipe De Brigard; Daniel C. Dennett; Nadine Dijkstra; Adrien Doerig; Paul Dux; Stephen Fleming; Keith Frankish; Chris Frith; Sarah Garfinkel; Melvyn Goodale; Jacqueline Gottlieb; Jake R. Hanson; Ran R. Hassin; Michael H. Herzog; Cecilia Heyes; Po-Jang Hsieh; Shao-Min Hung; Robert Kentridge; Tomas Knapen; Nikos Konstantinou; Konrad Kording; Timo L. Kvamme; Sze Chai Kwok; Renzo Lanfranco; Hakwan Lau; Joseph LeDoux; Alan L. F. Lee; Camilo Libedinsky; Matthew D. Lieberman; ... ...; Charles C.-F. Or; ... ...; Karen Yan

doi:10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x

What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific?

IIT-Concerned, Derek H. Arnold, Mark Baxter, Tristan A. Bekinschtein, Yoshua Bengio, James Bisley, Jacob Browning, Dean Buonomano, David Carmel, Marisa Carrasco, Peter Carruthers, Olivia Carter, Dorita Chang, Ian Charest, Mouslim Cherkaoui, Axel Cleeremans, Michael Cohen, Philip Corlett, Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva, Sam CummingCody A. Cushing, Beatrice de Gelder, Felipe De Brigard, Daniel C. Dennett, Nadine Dijkstra, Adrien Doerig, Paul Dux, Stephen Fleming, Keith Frankish, Chris Frith, Sarah Garfinkel, Melvyn Goodale, Jacqueline Gottlieb, Jake R. Hanson, Ran R. Hassin, Michael H. Herzog, Cecilia Heyes, Po-Jang Hsieh, Shao-Min Hung, Robert Kentridge, Tomas Knapen, Nikos Konstantinou, Konrad Kording, Timo L. Kvamme, Sze Chai Kwok, Renzo Lanfranco, Hakwan Lau, Joseph LeDoux, Alan L. F. Lee, Camilo Libedinsky, Matthew D. Lieberman, ... ..., Charles C.-F. Or, ... ..., Karen Yan

School of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

Abstract

Theories of consciousness have a long and controversial history. One well-known proposal — integrated information theory — has recently been labeled as ‘pseudoscience’, which has caused a heated open debate. Here we discuss the case and argue that the theory is indeed unscientific because its core claims are untestable even in principle.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	689-693
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature Neuroscience
Volume	28
Issue number	4
Early online date	10 Mar 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x
Publication status	Published - Apr 2025

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10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x

Cite this

IIT-Concerned, Arnold, D. H., Baxter, M., Bekinschtein, T. A., Bengio, Y., Bisley, J., Browning, J., Buonomano, D., Carmel, D., Carrasco, M., Carruthers, P., Carter, O., Chang, D., Charest, I., Cherkaoui, M., Cleeremans, A., Cohen, M., Corlett, P., Hadjiilieva, K. C., ... Yan, K. (2025). What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific? Nature Neuroscience, 28(4), 689-693. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x

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title = "What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific?",

abstract = "Theories of consciousness have a long and controversial history. One well-known proposal — integrated information theory — has recently been labeled as {\textquoteleft}pseudoscience{\textquoteright}, which has caused a heated open debate. Here we discuss the case and argue that the theory is indeed unscientific because its core claims are untestable even in principle.",

author = "IIT-Concerned and Arnold, \{Derek H.\} and Mark Baxter and Bekinschtein, \{Tristan A.\} and Yoshua Bengio and James Bisley and Jacob Browning and Dean Buonomano and David Carmel and Marisa Carrasco and Peter Carruthers and Olivia Carter and Dorita Chang and Ian Charest and Mouslim Cherkaoui and Axel Cleeremans and Michael Cohen and Philip Corlett and Hadjiilieva, \{Kalina Christoff\} and Sam Cumming and Cushing, \{Cody A.\} and \{de Gelder\}, Beatrice and Brigard, \{Felipe De\} and Dennett, \{Daniel C.\} and Nadine Dijkstra and Adrien Doerig and Paul Dux and Stephen Fleming and Keith Frankish and Chris Frith and Sarah Garfinkel and Melvyn Goodale and Jacqueline Gottlieb and Hanson, \{Jake R.\} and Hassin, \{Ran R.\} and Herzog, \{Michael H.\} and Cecilia Heyes and Po-Jang Hsieh and Shao-Min Hung and Robert Kentridge and Tomas Knapen and Nikos Konstantinou and Konrad Kording and Kvamme, \{Timo L.\} and Kwok, \{Sze Chai\} and Renzo Lanfranco and Hakwan Lau and Joseph LeDoux and Lee, \{Alan L. F.\} and Camilo Libedinsky and Lieberman, \{Matthew D.\} and ... ... and Or, \{Charles C.-F.\} and ... ... and Karen Yan",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x",

language = "English",

volume = "28",

pages = "689--693",

journal = "Nature Neuroscience",

issn = "1097-6256",

publisher = "Nature Research",

number = "4",

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IIT-Concerned, Arnold, DH, Baxter, M, Bekinschtein, TA, Bengio, Y, Bisley, J, Browning, J, Buonomano, D, Carmel, D, Carrasco, M, Carruthers, P, Carter, O, Chang, D, Charest, I, Cherkaoui, M, Cleeremans, A, Cohen, M, Corlett, P, Hadjiilieva, KC, Cumming, S, Cushing, CA, de Gelder, B, Brigard, FD, Dennett, DC, Dijkstra, N, Doerig, A, Dux, P, Fleming, S, Frankish, K, Frith, C, Garfinkel, S, Goodale, M, Gottlieb, J, Hanson, JR, Hassin, RR, Herzog, MH, Heyes, C, Hsieh, P-J, Hung, S-M, Kentridge, R, Knapen, T, Konstantinou, N, Kording, K, Kvamme, TL, Kwok, SC, Lanfranco, R, Lau, H, LeDoux, J, Lee, ALF, Libedinsky, C, Lieberman, MD, ..., , Or, CC-F, ... & Yan, K 2025, 'What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific?', Nature Neuroscience, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 689-693. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-01881-x