<p>Isn’t the concept of « Conscious agent » <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00577" rel="nofollow noreferrer">developed by Donald Hoffman</a> a variation on the ancient concept of homonculus?</p>
<p>The idea of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus" rel="nofollow noreferrer">homunculus</a> is the idea that consciousness is not the body or a part of the body (the brain) or a function of the body or an action performed by a part of the body, but that there is « ghost », a « little dude », hosted by the body, which is responsible for our subjective experience of consciousness (basically, a sort of personification of the mind-body apparent duality).</p>
<p>I suspect that the concept of conscious agents could be a sort of « atomistic » version of the idea of the homonculus, in the sense that if one assumes that consciousness cannot be an emergent property of the brain activity (hence not an emergent properly of matter), I guess one has to assume that some aspect of consciousness exists per se, in a sort of analogy with the idea of elementary particles in physics as does Donald Hoffman (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41817484-the-case-against-reality" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A Case Against Reality</a>).</p>
<p>But still, I cannot help feeling that the idea of conscious agent looks a lot like the idea of the homonculus trying to crawl back into the realm of neuroscience / philosophy through the back door.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-03T16:54:18.137Z
Here is a not too formal definition of conscious agents by D. Hoffman https://youtu.be/SL8wopYLM7Y (from 40:00 to 45:00, approximately).
Serge Hulne
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-07T07:53:54.053Z
I have only read a small part of the paper I linked for you and it is an interesting concept. Maybe this is going into the realms of "quantum neuroscience" with all the references to quantum physics.
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-07T07:55:15.520Z
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830500-300-is-quantum-physics-behind-your-brains-ability-to-think/
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-07T14:49:07.130Z
Thank you very much @Chris Rogers 6. To my knowledge the most advanced attempt to build a bridge between quantum mechanics and neuroscience is the joined publications of Sir Roger Penrose (physicist) and Stewart Hameroff (neuroscientist).
Serge Hulne
<consciousness>
Isn’t the concept of « Conscious agent » developped by Donald Hoffman a variation on the ancient idea of homonculus?
Serge Hulne
# Isn’t the concept of « Conscious agent » developped by Donald Hoffman a variation on the ancient idea of homonculus?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-11-03)

Isn’t the concept of « Conscious agent » [developed by Donald Hoffman](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00577) a variation on the ancient concept of homonculus?

The idea of [homunculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus) is the idea that consciousness is not the body or a part of the body (the brain) or a function of the body or an action performed by a part of the body, but that there is « ghost », a « little dude », hosted by the body, which is responsible for our subjective experience of consciousness (basically, a sort of personification of the mind-body apparent duality).

I suspect that the concept of conscious agents could be a sort of « atomistic » version of the idea of the homonculus, in the sense that if one assumes that consciousness cannot be an emergent property of the brain activity (hence not an emergent properly of matter), I guess one has to assume that some aspect of consciousness exists per se, in a sort of analogy with the idea of elementary particles in physics as does Donald Hoffman ([A Case Against Reality](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41817484-the-case-against-reality)).

But still, I cannot help feeling that the idea of conscious agent looks a lot like the idea of the homonculus trying to crawl back into the realm of neuroscience / philosophy through the back door.

**Tags:** consciousness

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Here is a not too formal definition of conscious agents by D. Hoffman https://youtu.be/SL8wopYLM7Y (from 40:00 to 45:00, approximately).  
> **username_1**: I have only read a small part of the paper I linked for you and it is an interesting concept. Maybe this is going into the realms of "quantum neuroscience" with all the references to quantum physics.  
> **username_1**: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830500-300-is-quantum-physics-behind-your-brains-ability-to-think/  
> **username_0**: Thank you very much @username_1 6. To my knowledge the most advanced attempt to build a bridge between quantum mechanics and neuroscience is the joined publications of Sir Roger Penrose (physicist) and Stewart Hameroff (neuroscientist).  

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## 0 answers

