Underdetermined system

Consciousness

Cognitive science

Algorithm

Epistemology

Psychoanalysis

Philosophy

Psychology

Computer science

History of science

Ergo an Open Access Journal of Philosophy

Consciousness scientists have not reached consensus on two of the most central questions in their field: first, on whether consciousness overflows reportability; second, on the physical basis of consciousness.I review the scientific literature of the 19th century to provide evidence that disagreement on these questions has been a feature of the scientific study of consciousness for a long time.Based on this historical review, I hypothesize that a unifying explanation of disagreement on these questions, up to this day, is that scientific theories of consciousness are underdetermined by the evidence, namely, that they can be preserved "come what may" in front of (seemingly) disconfirming evidence.Consciousness scientists may have to find a way of solving the persistent underdetermination of theories of consciousness to make further progress.S cientists studying consciousness have been unable to settle two central de- bates in the field.The first is about whether subjects are conscious of more than they can report: some researchers believe that consciousness and reportability are equivalent (Dehaene & Changeux 2011; Naccache 2018), while others think that consciousness overflows reportability (Block 1995;

Consciousness Science Underdetermined: A Short History of Endless Debates