“科学与哲学”论坛

Beyond Mechanism: Process Metaphysics and the Pluralistic Future of Consciousness Science

报告人


Robert Prentner

上海科技大学人文科学研究院助理教授


主持人


姜易函

中国科学院哲学研究所博士后


时间


2026年9月17日（周四） 

15:00-17:00


地点


中国科学院哲学研究所 报告厅

（北京市海淀区中关村南四街4号中国科学院软件园4号楼南楼4层）


报告人简介


Prof. Robert Prentner is a philosopher and interdisciplinary scientist working on the philosophy of science, technology, and consciousness studies. His work has appeared in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, Entropy, Mind and Matter, Neuroscience of Consciousness, Synthese, and various other international journals. Robert’s research aims to establish a novel framework of thinking that can integrate scientific research, technological developments (specifically: AI), and insights generated within the humanities. It currently focuses on the interface theory of perception as well as the mathematization of phenomenology, appealing to category and network theory (topology).


In the past, Robert has also carried out research in molecular quantum dynamics (physical chemistry), which has been published in leading journals in the field. He is interested in the philosophy and history of science and its contextualization within Western and Eastern philosophical worldviews.


Before joining ShanghaiTech, Robert worked as a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zürich, the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, and the University of California, Irvine. He is co-editor of the transdisciplinary journal Mind and Matter and co-organizer of the Models of Consciousness conference series.


报告摘要


Contemporary consciousness studies and cognitive neuroscience face various metaphysical and epistemological challenges, largely because current neuroscientific models rely on implicit assumptions regarding what constitutes a valid scientific explanation. In particular, strict mechanistic and reductive approaches struggle to adequately account for the phenomenal, qualitative structure of subjective experience. Standard paradigms thereby implicitly promote a problematic "bifurcation of nature" that artificially separates objective empirical reality from subjective experience.

This talk proposes that advancing the science of consciousness requires moving beyond purely mechanistic explanations. Process metaphysics offers an intriguing alternative that rejects static substance ontologies; instead, it reframes mental processes as deeply relational and internally structured. In practice, to properly address the qualitative nature of experience, we must embrace corresponding explanatory devices, including mathematized and autonomy-based enactive biological models. Ultimately, a pluralistic framework, grounded in the transcendental conditions of science itself, provides a coherent epistemological foundation for integrating consciousness into a modern scientific perspective.


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报名成功者最晚于9月15号收到邮件通知，参会时请携带有效身份证件。

海报|姜易函 顾泽枫

编辑|向昊斐

审核|姜易函


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