Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): Online First / Early View
Once the article(s) are accepted, we immediately publish them as early view. This approach ensures that readers are not deprived of the articles until the issue is officially published. Early view publication enables researchers to share their findings promptly, allowing other scholars in the field to benefit from and engage with the work.
In this issue, we are proud to feature a collection of bold and thought-provoking contributions that challenge the boundaries of how we conceptualize consciousness, cognition, and the very structure of reality. From embodied eliminativism to quantum ontology, and even a playful encounter with quantum cat metaphysics, the works herein exemplify the spirit of speculative rigor and philosophical imagination.
Our opening piece, “A Phenomenological 4E Eliminative Materialism: Consciousness as Neuromuscular Adaptation ‘In Virtue of Which’ Movement Affordances are Disclosed” by Arturo Leyva Pizano, presents a compelling hybrid of phenomenology and radical materialism. Drawing on 4E cognitive science (embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended), Leyva Pizano proposes a radical departure from representationalist accounts by framing consciousness not as a state but as a functional neuromuscular adaptation. In this view, awareness emerges in virtue of the body’s dynamical readiness to interact with the world. It is a strong contribution to ongoing debates about whether consciousness can be fully accounted for in physicalist terms, and if so, how deeply rooted it is in action and affordance.
Arrigo Paciello, in “What If the Ontological Basis of Consciousness are Quantum Exclusions?”, ventures into metaphysical terrain where physics and philosophy intertwine. Paciello hypothesizes that consciousness could be ontologically grounded in the principles of quantum exclusion—offering an alternative to classical materialist accounts and proposing that self-reflective awareness may be emergent from or encoded in quantum asymmetries. While speculative, the piece invites a re-examination of the hard problem of consciousness from a direction that remains underexplored in mainstream cognitive science.
Finally, Richard James Lucido’s article “Do Cats Collapse the Wave Function? Confronting the Measurement Problem with Subliminal Priming” revisits the infamous quantum measurement problem, but through an unexpected lens: subliminal perception. With a subtle nod to Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment, Lucido proposes that the boundary between observer and system may be more porous than previously thought. Could unconscious priming mechanisms play a role in ‘collapsing’ reality? While the article has a playful tone, it raises serious questions about perception, agency, and the interface between mind and matter.
Each of these works dares to think beyond conventional paradigms, offering readers a glimpse into the ever-evolving frontier of consciousness research. They do not merely describe the world as it is—they imagine what it might be. In doing so, they reaffirm the importance of theoretical audacity in the face of unsolved questions.
We hope these contributions spark both curiosity and critical engagement among our readers.
—The Editorial Team
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