Why Is the Explanatory Gap the Unsolvable Problem of Neuroscience? (Magnus Wijkander, 4/24/26, Thge Collector)
How can the private world of subjective experience, your feelings, thoughts, and hopes, be defined in terms of the cold, hard data of objective brain science? Philosopher of mind Joseph Levine named this theoretical chasm with practical consequences the “Explanatory Gap.” It’s a core challenge for neuroscience, signifying a fundamental, possibly unsolvable puzzle at the heart of what it means to be human and have consciousness.