In:Consciousness: New perspectives, artificial consciousness, and the scientific progress of psychology
Sam S. Rakover
[Advances in Consciousness Research 96] 2026
► pp. vii–x
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Table of contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1.The concept of consciousness
1.1Delineating the concept of consciousness
1.2The development and evolution of consciousness
1.3The evolution of consciousness: Animal perspectives
1.4Evaluating consciousness by conducting experiments
Chapter 2.Can consciousness be explained?
2.1A brief review of attempts to solve the problem of consciousness
2.2Can human behavior be explained purely mechanistically?
2.3Has a theory of consciousness (TC) been developed to explain
the relationship between neurophysiological processes
in the Brain and CΨ?
the relationship between neurophysiological processes
in the Brain and CΨ?
2.4Is it possible to reduce cognitive explanations grounded
in the concept of consciousness to mechanistic explanations
(such as neurophysiological explanations)?
in the concept of consciousness to mechanistic explanations
(such as neurophysiological explanations)?
2.5A tentative proposal: Consciousness as an explanatory
but unexplained concept
but unexplained concept
Chapter 3.Why have explanations of consciousness failed?
3.1Part I: A brief review of explanations for the unsolved CΨ-problem
3.2Part II: Measurement and the unsolved problem of CΨ
Chapter 4.Methodological Dualism (MD) and the Multi-Explanation Framework (MEF) (I): The development of a mentalistic explanatory procedure
4.1Rationale for Developing Methodological Dualism (MD)
and the Multi-Explanation Framework (MEF)
and the Multi-Explanation Framework (MEF)
4.2Methodological Dualism (MD): Some clarifications
4.3Methodological Dualism (MD): The development
of a mentalistic model of explanation
of a mentalistic model of explanation
4.4[Motivation–Belief] satisfies most of the requirements
for scientific explanation
for scientific explanation
Chapter 5.Methodological Dualism (MD) and the Multi-Explanation Framework (MEF) (II): Mechanistic and mentalistic explanations and theories of understanding
5.1Part I: The Multi-Explanation Framework (MEF): Core ideas
5.2Matching Theory (MT): Explanation and testing
5.3MD & MEF approach and the autonomy of explanation in psychology
5.4Part II: Two-factor theory of understanding (TFTU)
5.5Justifications for the MEF and TFTU
5.6Other approaches to understanding
Chapter 6.New perspectives on consciousness: What should a theory of consciousness (TC) look like?
6.1Observations/Interpretations of consciousness: Clarifications
and reasoning
and reasoning
6.2The proposed consciousness-perspectives: What should a theory
of consciousness (TC) look like?
of consciousness (TC) look like?
Chapter 7.A Theoretical Outline for Explanatory Consciousness (TOEC): How unconscious mental states become conscious and vice versa
7.1Part I: A Theoretical Outline of Explanatory Consciousness (TOEC): Unconscious processes precede conscious ones
7.2Part II: A Theoretical Outline of Explanatory Consciousness (TOEC): Induced-consciousness theory (ICT)
7.3Introducing ICT and its application
7.4A brief outline of the Observation–Manipulation (OM) subsystem
7.5Evaluations of ICT
7.6Comparisons between HOT and ICT
7.7Several comments on the conception of CΨ as an energy field
Chapter 8.Could a sophisticated robot develop consciousness?
8.1Machines with artificial consciousness?
8.2Arguments for the possibility of conscious Robots
8.3Arguments against the possibility of conscious Robots
8.4New arguments against conscious Robots
Chapter 9.Is Psychology a science, and how does it advance?
9.1Part I: Psychology, science, and progress
9.2A possible explanation for the problem of the scientific progress
of psychology and its crises
of psychology and its crises
9.3Part II: How does psychology develop as a scientific discipline?
9.4A theory describing how psychology develops as a science
9.5An empirical example that supports the LGT hypothesis: The face inversion effect
9.6Consciousness and the scientific progress of psychology
References
Index
