2022 年 31 巻 p. 5-29
In this paper, I attempt to provide a theoretical foundation for the evolutionary biology of consciousness as a research program by extracting and reconstructing fundamental assumptions that are shared by the theories of Feinberg and Mallatt, and Ginsburg and Jablonka. I propose three core postulates and a schematic model of animal consciousness. I then apply this model to empirical neurobiological knowledge in vertebrates to show that the enabling architecture of consciousness was established as the ground plan in the common ancestor of the vertebrates. By comparing the enabling architecture of consciousness implemented as ground plans in different taxa, we can develop a general theory of consciousness that is free from lineage-specific constraints.
