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Updated: Sep 18, 2026

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
Consciousness is not "universal" but depends on specifically organized biological affordances
Eva Jablonka1, Simona Ginsburg2, Zohar Z Bronfman3
1The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel jablonka@tauex.tau.ac.il.
Abstract:
Seth's claim that only biological or biological-like systems can be conscious leaves open the question of what renders only some organisms conscious. We address this question by pointing to the material, ontogenetic, memory, and evaluative affordances of living organisms and arguing that evolved, minimal consciousness requires complex cognitive-affective architecture for which these biological affordances are obligatory. Conscious thinking of humans cannot be separated from minimal consciousness, and non-biological AI robots' computations do not render these operations conscious.
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