Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Dr. Thomas Brophy
President, California Institute for Human Science
Society for Consciousness Studies 2021 Conference Presentation Title:
Property Dualism A-Theory as a path through the Hard Problem
Bio: Dr. Brophy is President of California Institute for Human Science, CIHS. CIHS is a mind-body-consciousness based university with programs in Clinical Psychology, Integral Health, and Comparative Religion and Philosophy. As well as being chief executive officer, he teaches Foundations of Integral Studies, and forefront issues of mind-body cosmology at CIHS. He earned a Ph.D. in physics at University of Colorado, Boulder, working with LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) and NASA interplanetary spacecraft projects, and was a National Science Foundation exchange scientist to the Japan Space Program, University of Tokyo. Through partnership with Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama, founder of CIHS, he has developed science-consciousness integrative research and teaching programs. He has published several books, peer reviewed scientific articles in premier journals, been a featured presenter at scientific conferences, television documentaries, and Integral spirituality meetings around the world.
Abstract: Since the 2017 Tucson Science of Consciousness conference I have been developing a category for quantum physics-friendly theories for the ontology of conscious agency that I call “A-Theory”. The development of A-Theory started with an emphasis on the non-causal-closure of the physical world established by modern quantum physics. Another step in A-Theory involves the non-specific nature of the Born Rule for the measurement problem, “collapse” process of the quantum wave function. This allows for a connection with descriptions of esoteric consciousness “unitive” stages as described by advanced meditators such as Hiroshi Motoyama (Being and the Logic of Interactive Function). This presentation situates property dualism as recently described by David Chalmers within the A-Theory paradigm. Introducing a fundamental property of the physical world that generates conscious experience and agency can address the “Hard Problem” of consciousness. This procedure is analogous historically to James Clerk Maxwell introducing the property of electric charge to explain the category of phenomena called electromagnetism. The new property could be called “noetic charge”, and defined as an ontic property of matter that instantiates experience of being. This presentation explores the possibility of noetic charge and noetic field-based Property Dualism A-Theory.
Dr. Thomas Brophy
President, California Institute for Human Science
Society for Consciousness Studies 2021 Conference Presentation Title:
Property Dualism A-Theory as a path through the Hard Problem
Bio: Dr. Brophy is President of California Institute for Human Science, CIHS. CIHS is a mind-body-consciousness based university with programs in Clinical Psychology, Integral Health, and Comparative Religion and Philosophy. As well as being chief executive officer, he teaches Foundations of Integral Studies, and forefront issues of mind-body cosmology at CIHS. He earned a Ph.D. in physics at University of Colorado, Boulder, working with LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) and NASA interplanetary spacecraft projects, and was a National Science Foundation exchange scientist to the Japan Space Program, University of Tokyo. Through partnership with Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama, founder of CIHS, he has developed science-consciousness integrative research and teaching programs. He has published several books, peer reviewed scientific articles in premier journals, been a featured presenter at scientific conferences, television documentaries, and Integral spirituality meetings around the world.
Abstract: Since the 2017 Tucson Science of Consciousness conference I have been developing a category for quantum physics-friendly theories for the ontology of conscious agency that I call “A-Theory”. The development of A-Theory started with an emphasis on the non-causal-closure of the physical world established by modern quantum physics. Another step in A-Theory involves the non-specific nature of the Born Rule for the measurement problem, “collapse” process of the quantum wave function. This allows for a connection with descriptions of esoteric consciousness “unitive” stages as described by advanced meditators such as Hiroshi Motoyama (Being and the Logic of Interactive Function). This presentation situates property dualism as recently described by David Chalmers within the A-Theory paradigm. Introducing a fundamental property of the physical world that generates conscious experience and agency can address the “Hard Problem” of consciousness. This procedure is analogous historically to James Clerk Maxwell introducing the property of electric charge to explain the category of phenomena called electromagnetism. The new property could be called “noetic charge”, and defined as an ontic property of matter that instantiates experience of being. This presentation explores the possibility of noetic charge and noetic field-based Property Dualism A-Theory.
