 |
customer@davidpublishing.com |
 |
3275638434 |
 |
 |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
A Philosophical Reassessment of Consciousness-Matter Relations
CUI Weicheng
Full-Text PDF
XML 64 Views
DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2026.02.005
Zhejiang Engineering Research Center of Micro/Nano-Photonic/Electronic System Integration, Hangzhou, China
Westlake University, Hangzhou, China
In 2005, Richard Conn Henry from Johns Hopkins University published “The Mental Universe” in Nature, advancing the idealistic claim that the universe is fundamentally mental and conscious, and that matter has no objective reality. Grounded in a one-sided interpretation of the observational effects in quantum mechanics, this view has sparked long-standing debates across physics, philosophy, neuroscience, and other disciplines. The Unified Complex System Theory (UCST), centered on an ether-mind dualistic ontology, differs from both traditional materialist monism and idealist monism, and offers a more comprehensive account of the mind-matter relationship. Using UCST as a theoretical framework, this paper systematically analyzes multiple fallacies in “The Mental Universe” concerning conceptual definition, logical deduction, and the demarcation of scientific boundaries. It comprehensively reviews both supportive and critical arguments in authoritative journals since 2005, and integrates evidence from interpretive disputes in quantum mechanics, empirical findings in neuroscience, epigenetic mechanisms, and parapsychological phenomena. The study demonstrates that: Quantum measurement essentially involves interactions between material systems, rather than consciousness determining existence; consciousness emerges from the interaction between mind and the physical body, and cannot exist independently of a material substrate; science applies only to the finite, observable world accessible to humans, and cannot pronounce absolute truths about the universe as a whole; monism is unsuitable as a reliable ontological foundation for science, and ether-mind dualistic ontology possesses greater logical completeness and explanatory power.
Unified Complex System
Theory (UCST), consciousness, matter, quantum mechanics, dualistic ontology,
idealism, scientific methodology
CUI Weicheng. (2026). A Philosophical Reassessment of Consciousness-Matter Relations. Philosophy Study, Mar.-Apr. 2026, Vol. 16, No. 2, 146-154.
Benardo, J., & Favour, D. (2025). Quantum coherence in brain processes. ResearchGate.
Bohr, N. (1958). Atomic physics and human knowledge. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Buell, B. (2019). Jaxon Buell: Microhydranencephaly with prolonged survival. CBS News.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2003). Social isolation and health. Perspectives in Biological Medicine, 46(3 Suppl.), S39-S52.
Cardeña, E. (2018). The experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena: A review. American Psychologist, 73(5), 663-677.
Cole, S. W., Hawkley, L. C., Arevalo, J. M. G., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2011). Socially regulated gene expression in leukocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 3080-3085.
Covington, C., Taylor, H., Gill, C., Padaliya, B., Newman, W., Smart, J. R., & Charles, P. D. (2003). Prolonged survival in hydranencephaly. Tennessee Medicine, 96(9), 423.
Cui, W. C. (2026). A new proposal for scientific standards: Modified Hilbert axiomatic standards and dynamic demarcation criteria. Philosophy Study, 16(1), 30-44.
Cui, W. C., Li, R., & Pan, L. L. (2025a). Unified Complex Systems Theory (UCST): Resolving materialist dilemmas through dualist ontology and active force. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 13(5), 517-545.
Cui, W. C., Li, R., Pan, L. L., & Zeng, L. L. (2025b). The problem of logical self-circulation in modern scientific theories and its resolution. Philosophy Study, 15(6), 291-314.
Descartes, R. (1984). Meditations on first philosophy (The philosophical writings of Descartes, Vol. 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1641)
Einstein, A. (1916). Relativity: The special and general theory. New York: Dover Publications.
Escolà-Gascón, Á. (2025). Quantum-entangled higher states of consciousness. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 30, 21-40.
Everett, H. (1957). Relative state formulation of quantum mechanics. Reviews of Modern Physics, 29(3), 454-462.
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (Ed.). (1927). The Tibetan book of the dead. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fang, Z. P., Dang, Y. Y., Ping, A. A., Wang, C. Y., Zhao, Q. C., Zhao, H. L., … Zhang, M. S. (2025). Human high-order thalamic nuclei gate conscious perception. Science, 388(6742), eadr3675.
Fisher, M. P. (2015). Quantum cognition: Nuclear spins in the brain. Annals of Physics, 362, 593-602.
Fitzpatrick, R. (2015). Quantum mechanics. Singapore: World Scientific.
Gassab, L., Pusuluk, O., & Cattaneo, M. (2025). Quantum models of consciousness. Entropy, 27(3), 243.
Gennaro, R. J. (2018). The Routledge handbook of consciousness. New York: Routledge.
Gibney, E. (2025). Physicists disagree wildly on quantum reality, nature survey shows. Nature, 643, 1175-1179.
Goldstein, H., Poole, C., & Safko, J. (2002). Classical mechanics (3rd ed.). London: Pearson.
Greyson, B. (2022). After: A doctor explores near-death experiences. New York: Penguin.
Guevara, R., Mateos, D. M., & Velázquez, J. L. P. (2020). Consciousness as an emergent phenomenon. Entropy, 22(9), 921.
Heisenberg, W. (1971). Physics and beyond. New York: Harper & Row.
Hohwy, J., & Seth, A. K. (2020). Predictive processing and neural correlates of consciousness. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 1(2), 3.
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Baker, M. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as mortality risks. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227-237.
Houran, J. (2022). Introduction: Contemplating the BICS essay contest on postmortem survival. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 36(2), 348-349.
Henry, R. C. (2005). The mental universe. Nature, 436(7052), 902.
Henry, R. C. (2009a). The real scandal of quantum mechanics. American Journal of Physics, 77(10), 869-870.
Henry, R. C. (2009b). Response to “The real scandal of quantum mechanics”. American Journal of Physics, 77(10), 870-871.
Johnson, M. K. (2025). Origins of subjective experience. Annual Review of Psychology, 76(1), 128.
Keppler, J. (2025). Macroscopic quantum effects in the brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 19, 1676585.
Kuhn, R. L. (2024). A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 190, 28-169.
Lei, Y., Liu, Y. X., Wang, M. L., Yuan, N. N., Hou, Y. J., Ding, L. J., … Shen, Z. M. (2025). Single-cell spatial transcriptome atlas of macaque claustrum. Cell, 188(14), 3863-3881.e25.
Lipton, B. H. (2008). The biology of belief. New York: Hay House Inc.
Luppi, A. I., Lyu, D., & Stamatakis, E. A. (2025). Core of consciousness: The default mode network as nexus of convergence and divergence in the human brain. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 65: 101545.
McAbee, G. N., Chan, A., & Erde, E. L. (2000). Prolonged survival with hydranencephaly. Pediatric Neurology, 23(1), 80-84.
Merker, B. (2007). Consciousness without a cerebral cortex. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(1), 63-81.
Mishlove, J. (2021). Beyond the brain: The survival of human consciousness after death. Las Vegas: Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies.
Moreira-Almeida, A., & Santos, F. S. (Eds.). (2012). Exploring frontiers of the mind brain relationship. New York: Springer.
National Institute on Aging. (2019). Social isolation, loneliness in older people.
Oriols, X., & Mompart, J. (2019). Applied Bohmian mechanics (2nd ed.). Singapore: Jenny Stanford Publishing.
Osinga, M. (2025). Investigating the feasibility of the Orch OR theory (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University, 2025).
Penrose, R., & Hameroff, S. (1996). Orchestrated objective reduction of quantum coherence in brain microtubules. Mathematics and Computer Simulation, 40(3-4), 453-480.
Planck, M. (1932). Where is science going? New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Poznanski, R. R., Ali, J., Iannella, N., & Sbnitnev, V. (2024). Consciousness: A quantum optical effect. Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience, 3(3), 224241.
Sasidharan, S., Grewal, R., PK, D., Khati, K., Kalmath, D., & Rai,
P. (2025). Quantum physics and anesthesia. Journal of Marine Medical Society. Retrieved
from https://journals.lww.com/jmsc/fulltext/9900/quantum_physics_and_anesthesia__exploring.
178.aspx
Sellouti, M., Ayad, A., Abilkassem, R., & Agadr, A. O. (2023). Hydranencephaly: Case report. International Journal of Neurobiology, 5(2), 161.
Shewmon, D. A. (1998). Brainstem death, brain death and death. Issues in Law & Medicine, 14(2), 125-145.
Sogyal Rinpoche. (1992). The Tibetan book of living and dying. New York: HarperCollins.
Stew, G. (2022). An objective science of subjective experience. Edinburgh: Essentia Foundation.
Strømme, M. (2025). Universal consciousness as foundational field. AIP Advances, 15, 115319.
Toumi, K., Chafiq, K., Khayi, F., & Daoudi, A. (2024). Hydranencephaly in a newborn. Cureus, 16(12), e75435.
Valentini, A. (2026). Beyond the Quantum: A Quest for the Origin and Hidden Meaning of Quantum Mechanics. Oxford University Press.
Walach, H. (2019). Beyond a materialist worldview. London: Scientific and Medical Network.
Wang, Q., Yu, G., Ming, X., Xia, W. K., Xu, X. G., Zhang, Y., … Xie, W. (2020). Imprecise DNMT1 activity enables epigenetic inheritance. Nature Genetics, 52(8), 828-839.
Wiest, M. C. (2025). A quantum microtubule substrate of consciousness. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2025(1), niaf011.