Does consciousness even appear unified?

Abstract

Abstract In the debate about phenomenal unity, the assumption that consciousness appears phenomenally unified is generally taken for granted. Based on this, most debates have focused on whether consciousness is in fact unified or whether it merely appears to be. Here, I object to the premise of this debate by questioning the assumption that the way consciousness appears to us suggests it is unified. One upshot of this objection is that theories or arguments that presume phenomenal unity are challenged. I illustrate this by discussing the impact of my objection on the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness.

Keywords

• Consciousness
• phenomenal unity
• Integrated Information Theory
• appearance-reality
• Bevissthet
• fenomenal enhet (phenomenal unity)