Gabriel’s New Realism and Field of Sense

Philosopher Markus Gabriel constructs a unique theory of consciousness by building on his philosophical foundation, especially his New Realism, Ontological Pluralism, and Field of Sense. To begin, Gabriel resists the reduction of consciousness to brain states or physical processes. He critiques ‘neurocentrism,’ which he coins to emphasize his view that the self is not just the brain. He says, “The basic idea of neurocentrism is that being a mental being consists in nothing but having a suitable brain…To understand ‘I,’ ‘consciousness,’ ‘self,’ ‘will,’ ‘freedom’ or ‘mind,’ one doesn’t ask philosophy…one must investigate the brain by neuroscientific methods…” (Gabriel, 2017).

Critique of Neurocentrism and Reductionism

He eschews reductionist slogans asserting that “you are your brain” (a modernist meme memorialized by neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland and molecular-biologist-turned-neuroscientist Francis Crick). “No, I am not!” responds Gabriel, rejecting neurocentrism while offering “a philosophy of mind for the twenty‑first century.” He insists that consciousness and personhood cannot be reduced to neuronal activity. While the brain is obviously a necessary condition for consciousness, he affirms strongly that it is not sufficient and it is not identical with it—mental phenomena emerge in transcendent, culturally infused fields. “The idea that we are identical to our brains is one of the most dangerous ideologies of our time” (Gabriel, 2017).

Gabriel argues that treating consciousness as a ‘thing’ that can be fully explained by natural sciences is a category error. “Consciousness is not located in the brain. It is not a thing. It is not an object of science in the way molecules or atoms are” (Gabriel, 2015).

Consciousness as Field of Sense and Freedom

For Gabriel, consciousness is not a ‘substance’ but a ‘field of sense’—which is a central concept in Gabriel’s philosophy. Fields of sense are ways in which the world becomes intelligible; they are distinct ontological domains or contexts in which things appear and have meaning. Fields of sense are the essence of his hallmark New Realism.

This means that, for Gabriel, consciousness is not an object in a field of sense, but rather a precondition for the very existence of fields of sense. This reflects a phenomenological orientation: consciousness is the condition of appearance for meaning and intelligibility. This aligns him with figures like Husserl and Heidegger and distances him from the more prevalent materialist philosophers of mind. “The mind is not in the world; rather, the world is in the mind” (Gabriel, 2017).

Gabriel’s consciousness becomes axial for his larger psychosocial philosophical positions. He sees consciousness as a manifestation of freedom and meaning, linking consciousness with intentionality as well as freedom-seeking and meaning-making. He argues that conscious beings are not just reacting to stimuli but are capable of interpreting, evaluating, and creating norms—which cannot be captured by empirical sciences alone. He holds that humans are free beings; reconciling free will with physical contingency requires rejecting a strictly naturalistic, deterministic, physicalist framework.

All this supports Gabriel’s broader anti-physicalist stance: consciousness must be understood in normative, semantic, and existential terms; consciousness is profoundly intertwined with ethical life and self-understanding. He takes consciousness as essentially normative, not just descriptive. We are conscious of something, but also about how things ought to be. “Consciousness is the space where freedom, value, and responsibility appear” (Gabriel, 2017).