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Treating Consciousness as Evolutionary Novelty to Solve the Gradualist Difficulty

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Intelligence Science VI (ICIS 2026)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 798))

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Abstract

Gradualism is one of the fundamental positions in biology, yet consciousness—as a representative biological phenomenon—faces difficulties when approached from this perspective. The subjective experience of consciousness is often regarded as “all-or-nothing”, which seems to conflict with gradualism when it comes to the emergence of consciousness from its absence in the history of life. This paper attempts to resolve this tension by drawing on the biological concepts of evolutionary novelty and deep homology. First, it argues that it is methodologically feasible to treat consciousness as an evolutionary novelty. Second, it identifies possible factors of deep homology underlying consciousness. Finally, it shows that the novelty/deep homology framework challenges the “all-or-nothing” intuition about consciousness, thereby dissolving the gradualist difficulty. In light of this, the paper further proposes that the problem of consciousness should be naturalized as a problem of evolutionary developmental biology, that consciousness should not be essentialized, and that it ought to be understood processually within the context of evolutionary history.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jin Wang & Yi Zeng

  2. Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jin Wang & Yi Zeng

  3. Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance, Beijing, China

    Jin Wang & Yi Zeng

  4. Center for Long-term AI, Beijing, China

    Jin Wang & Yi Zeng

  5. Gaoling School of AI, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Yi Zeng

Authors
  1. Jin Wang
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  2. Yi Zeng
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Correspondence to Jin Wang.

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhongzhi Shi

  2. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Wenfei Fan

  3. Deakin University, Geelong, SA, Australia

    Gang Li

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Wang, J., Zeng, Y. (2027). Treating Consciousness as Evolutionary Novelty to Solve the Gradualist Difficulty. In: Shi, Z., Fan, W., Li, G. (eds) Intelligence Science VI. ICIS 2026. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 798. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-37199-7_18

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