Jones’s Electromagnetic Fields

Philosopher Mostyn Jones gathers, explains, and classifies various electromagnetic-field theories, each with its own theoretical foundation: computationalist, reductionist, dualist, realist, interactionist, epiphenomenalist, globalist, and localist. He uses three questions to classify the field theories:

1. How do minds exist relative to fields?
2. Are minds unified by global or local fields?
3. How extensively do fields and neurons interact? (Jones, 2013).

Binding Problem an Field Integration

The claim is made that electromagnetic fields in the brain can solve the “binding problem,” where distinct sensory modules combine to give a unified sense of phenomenal experience—say, melding the redness and roundness of a balloon into a single percept. For example, there doesn't seem to be a single synthesizing brain area into which all visual circuits feed, nor any well-known cortical circuits that bind (unite) color and shape to form unified images.

However, perceptual binding does seem to involve the synchronized firing of circuits in unified lockstep (with a temporal binding code) for specific sensory modalities (e.g., shape), but neurons in color and shape circuits don't synchronize. Jones states that “while binding involves synchrony, binding seems to be more than synchrony,” thus giving field theories the opening to unify visual experience via a single field, not by a single brain area or by synchrony (yet synchrony does amplify field activity) (Jones, 2013).

Jones claims that evidence is mounting that unified neural electromagnetic fields interact with neuronal cells and circuits to explain correlations and divergences between synchrony, attention, convergence, and unified minds, and that the simplest explanation for the unity of minds and fields is that minds are fields (Jones, 2017). Moreover, some electromagnetic-field theorists even put qualia itself on the explanatory agenda (Jones, 2013).

Toward Neuroelectrical Panpsychism

Jones poses “neuroelectrical panpsychism” (NP) as “a clear, simple, testable mind–body solution” based on the conjunction of its two component theories: (i) “everything is at least minimally conscious,” and (ii) “electrical activity across separate neurons creates a unified, intelligent mind.”

According to Jones, NP is bolstered by neuroelectrical activities that generate different qualia, unite them to form perceptions and emotions, and help guide brain operations. He claims, ambitiously, that “NP also addresses the hard problem of why minds accompany these neural correlates.”

He offers the radical identity that “the real nature of matter-energy (beyond how it appears to sense organs) is consciousness that occupies space, exerts forces, and unites neuroelectrically to form minds.” He also has NP solving panpsychism's combination problem “by explaining how the mind's subject and experiences arise by electrically combining simple experiences in brains” (Jones, 2024).