Towards a Possible Definition of Consciousness
Abstract
There is no consensus about what cognition and its emergent form, consciousness, are. Yet this article proposes a new definition of consciousness. As many researchers, philosophers and other thinkers believe that life means cognising, this new definition of consciousness stems from a generalisation of the existing definition of life which postulates that Life is a far from equilibrium self-maintaining chemical system capable of processing, transforming, and accumulating information acquired from the environment. The new definition includes the thermodynamical aspect as a far from equilibrium system and considers the flow of information from the environment to a conscious system. The new definition of consciousness presented herein is formulated in a minimal manner; simultaneously, it is general enough to cover all emergent forms of cognition, e.g. thinking and rationality. The newly formulated definition states that Consciousness is an emergent property of a far from equilibrium system of quantum particles sustained by an autopoietic system and capable of processing, transforming, and accumulating information acquired from the environment. The newly proposed definition of consciousness may be of interest to cognitive and computer sciences - and even to the development of artificial intelligence. Furthermore, it presents a possible solution to Chalmers' hard problem of consciousness. This article discusses a possible generalisation by introducing quantum particles to the definition of life stated herein, refining it into a broader concept: Life is a far from equilibrium self-maintaining system of quantum particles capable of processing, transforming, and accumulating information acquired from the environment.
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Vitas's proposal remains primarily conceptual rather than empirical.
“While philosophically ambitious and internally coherent, this proposal remains primarily conceptual rather than empirical.”
From Quantum-Inspired and Non-Classical Approaches to Consciousness: Models, Evidence and Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [43]
Vitas's proposal does not provide operational criteria for detecting quantum coherence, entanglement, or other non-classical correlations in neural tissue, nor establish how such descriptions would be distinguished experimentally from classical processes.
“It does not provide operational criteria for detecting quantum coherence, entanglement, or other non-classical correlations in neural tissue, nor does it establish how such quantum-particle descriptions would be distinguished experimentally from classical chemical and electrochemical processes.”
From Quantum-Inspired and Non-Classical Approaches to Consciousness: Models, Evidence and Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [43]
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- Authors
- Vitas, M.
- Corresponding author
- Vitas, Marko
- ORCID
- Vitas, Marko
- Venue
- BioSystems
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2025-08
- Volume
- 254
- Pages
- 105526
- ISSN
- 0303-2647 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4411919478
- Semantic Scholar
- 9c5021fbb0ff4564916b1b3d5ffd509adca049a9
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 9.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Biosystems (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- consciousness, definition of consciousness, concept of life, emergent cognition, far-from-equilibrium systems, autopoiesis, quantum particles, information processing, thermodynamics of consciousness, artificial intelligence
- MeSH terms
- Artificial Intelligence, Cognition, Consciousness, Humans, Quantum Theory
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