François Kammerer

François Kammerer is a philosopher of mind and cognitive science, a CNRS researcher (“Chargé de recherches”) attached to the Archives Henri Poincaré in Strasbourg. His research focuses on consciousness and introspection, with published work on introspective access, the illusionist program, and the cognitive science of conscious thought.

His book House of Mirrors: The Illusion of Phenomenal Consciousness (Oxford University Press, summer 2026, open access) defends illusionism, the view that phenomenal consciousness is not real and only seems real because brains generate a unique introspective illusion. The book’s framework, Meta-Cartesianism, explains why this illusion differs from a perceptual illusion. A perceptual illusion can be diagnosed from outside, but the illusion of phenomenality is carried by the very introspective faculty that would diagnose it, which makes it stronger and almost inextricable. The book then maps consequences across the cognitive science of consciousness, ethics, and epistemology.

For the study of emerging consciousness in machines, illusionism removes the metaphysical ceiling while keeping the functional program intact. If phenomenal properties are misrepresentation rather than extra furniture, then what an artificial system has or lacks is a matter of functional organization and introspective modeling, fully within reach of measurement, and the burden shifts to explaining why systems like us inevitably represent themselves as having something they do not.

Known for. Illusionism about phenomenal consciousness, Meta-Cartesianism, House of Mirrors (OUP 2026)

Coverage on this site

• House of Mirrors. François Kammerer's OUP Book Argues Phenomenal Consciousness Is an Introspective Illusion October 2026

Related researchers

• Daniel DennettTufts University. 1942 to 2024The Multiple Drafts Model, the Cartesian Theater critique, and heterophenomenology Illusionist4 articles
• KF Keith FrankishUniversity of SheffieldIllusionism about phenomenal consciousness Illusionist3 articles
• KS Kristina SekrstUniversity of ZagrebThe Illusion Engine (Springer 2026), hallucination and machine consciousness, the indistinguishability of hallucination and experience in AI self-reports Illusionist2 articles

François Kammerer is listed with the other illusionists and eliminativists, who hold that phenomenal consciousness as usually described does not exist. The theory family behind that position is set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.