Consciências coletivas: uma abordagem gradualista do monismo protopsíquico

Abstract

The hypothesis that Collective Consciousnesses exist in the natural world challenges the assumption that consciousness is phenomenally determinate, since such forms would be in a gray area of phenomenal unification. This point of view, once its reasonableness is accepted, is in accordance with psychophysical gradualism, according to which consciousness is a vague

property of biological organization. On this basis, we propose that Panprotopsychist Dual- Aspect Monism admits that subjective experience comes in degrees, correlated with the

arrangement of the physical parts of a living system. Accordingly, there would be non- conscious, borderline, and conscious forms. The colony, in this case, is examined as a spatially

distributed organism that exhibits a partially integrated experience. To support this argument, we investigate the Phenomenal Binding Problem to determine which physical process makes it possible for consciousnesses to be combined into an integrated whole. In addressing this issue, we argue that the synchronization of electromagnetic fields constitutes the physical substrate that enables the combination of the experiences of the colony’s components. The analysis of biological models, such as bryozoans and siphonophores, leads to the recognition of an evident relationship between the synchronization of (neuro)electrical oscillations and collective sensitivity. We conclude that distributed consciousness is not merely an analogical description, but a natural occurrence.