The Four Main Theories of Consciousness
What Is Consciousness?
Four competing theories — Global Workspace, IIT, Higher-Order, Predictive Processing — and what each says about Mary's Room.
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Learning Material
6 pagesLesson 5 — The Four Main Theories
Understanding the Complex: What Is Consciousness?
Mary is still in her room. She still knows every physical fact about color vision. She still hasn't seen red.
The question from Lesson 4: when she does, does she learn something new?
Each of the four main theories of consciousness gives a different answer. Understanding why illuminates what each theory actually claims — and what's at stake in the debate.