Borderline Consciousness Project

The 'Towards New Demarcation Criteria for Borderline Consciousness' Project is an interdisciplinary project involving a collaboration between philosophers of Bonn and neuroscientists from the epilepsy clinic in Bonn. Its main purpose is to create an international research forum to develop new criteria for determining whether and when non-human entities, such as non-linguistic animals, new brain organisms, or advanced AI systems can be considered conscious. The project includes the borderline website1 and an international conference2 held in Bonn in September 2023.

SEPTEMBER 27-28, 2023: OPENING CONFERENCE: Detecting Unusual Consciousness. From Brain organoids to AI systems2

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Tim BAYNE, Monash (online); Jonathan BIRCH, LSE; Marcello MASSIMINI, Milan (online); Elizabeth SCHECHTER, Maryland

TALKS

Feb 2025. Charlotte Gauvry. "Why does it matter wether a person is conscious?",  The return of consciousness after a coma: Program AgoraComa Neuroscience/Philosophy, F. Perrin,  University hospital Lyon

Feb. 2025. Charlotte Gauvry. "How to detect consciousness?", Poly’Jam "Neuroscience," École Polytechnique de Lille

Jan. 2025. Charlotte Gauvry. "Narrow sentientism as a promising framework for investigating ethical challenges raised by new neurosurgical cases such as hemispherotmy", Jülich Colloquium

Jan 2025. Charlotte Gauvry. "Are there cortical islands of awareness?", Munich Interactive Intelligence Initiative (MI3), CVBE (Cognition, Value and Behaviour) Lab (Ophelia Deroy), München

Oct. 2024. Charlotte Gauvry.  "Insular awareness." Conference NeurotechEU, A. Billon, Lille

Sept. 2024. Charlotte Gauvry. Keynote talk "Borderline cases of synthetic consciousness as artifactual models." Models of Consciousness 5 (MoC5) Conference, University of Bamberg

July 2024. Charlotte Gauvry. Symposium "Sentience in non-human animals and AI systems with Jonathan Birch" 31th European Society for Philosophy and Psychology. H. Shevlin (LCFI Cambridge), Grenoble

June 2024. Charlotte Gauvry "Aktuelle Herausforderungen bei der Modellierung minimaler phänomenaler Erfahrungen (MPE) von Thomas Metzinger – Hemispherotomie als Fallsstudie ", Workshop "Naturalism, with and on Th. Metzinger". S. Lang, Vienna

April 2024. Charlotte Gauvry "What if the isolated hemisphere after hemispherotomy is sentient ? Two moral dilemma", Workshop "Ethics of consciousness", U. Kriegel, Rice University/ Paris

March 2024. Charlotte Gauvry. "Theoretical models of self-awareness confronted with borderline cases of synthetic consciousness,” The reality and fictionality of scientific modelling, DFG International Confrence C. Gauvry, J. Voosholz, Bonn

Dec 2023 Charlotte Gauvry, "Is human intelligence computational?", Conference "Quelle intelligence, quel artifice ?", UCLouvain/ Saint Louis Brussels

PAPERS

Gauvry, C.; Rüber, T. (2024): Extrapolating Consciousness in Isolated Hemispheres. Hemispherotomy as a new challenge. In: Revue de métaphysique et de morale 1/121 (2024), 47-65.

Under review:

Bauer, Tobias; Gauvry, Charlotte; Markett, Sebastian; Kreter-Schönleber, Thomas; Borger, Valeri; Vatter, Hartmut; Sander, Josemir W; Gabriel, Markus; Radbruch, Alexander; Surges, Rainer; Rüber, Theodor: Default-mode network activity is retained in the isolated hemisphere of people after hemispherotomy. Submitted to: Brain communications

Gauvry C.: Aktuelle Herausforderungen bei der Modellierung minimaler phänomenaler Erfahrungen (MPE) von Thomas Metzinger. Submitted to: Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 

SEMINARS

SoSe 2025. Nurida Boddenberg & Charlotte Gauvry. Philosophy of neuroscience (MA)

WiSe 2024/24. Charlotte Gauvry. Borderline consciousness: from mental disorders to AI-Consciousness (MA)

SoSe 2024. Nurida Boddenberg & Charlotte Gauvry. Introduction to the philosophy of consciousness. From theories of consciousness to empirical approaches (BA)

SoSe 2024. Charlotte Gauvry. AI Intelligence/AI Consciousness (MA)

Funded by the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) “Individuals, Institutions and Societies”3 (University of Bonn) as part of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments.

Contact Information

Principal Investigator: Charlotte Gauvry4 (Bonn, CST)

Collaborators: Uwe Peters5 (Bonn-Cambridge, CST-LCFI) and Theodor Rüber6 (Bonn, Epilepsy Clinic)
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