George Blackburne
University College London and Imperial College London
George Blackburne is the first listed author of Compatibilist emergence for the science of consciousness. Cambridge published this Open Peer Commentary in Behavioral and Brain Sciences 49, e321, on 17 September 2026. Its author details list affiliations at University College London and Imperial College London. His co-authors are Alberto Liardi, Jeremy I. Skipper, Pedro A. M. Mediano, and Fernando E. Rosas.
The publisher’s abstract proposes compatibilist emergence as a way to understand the relation between subjectivity and substrate. It suggests that life’s autopoietic character may require and promote the relevant emergence. The authors describe that emergence as necessary but not sufficient for consciousness. This profile uses the abstract and publication details, rather than the unavailable full text. They do not establish Blackburne’s individual contribution or a broader philosophical position.
Our editorial analysis of the commentary distinguishes a proposed necessary condition from evidence that a system is conscious. Accepting such a condition would still leave the additional requirements for experience unresolved.
Known for. First author of the BBS commentary on compatibilist emergence
Coverage on this site
Related researchers
- Pedro MedianoImperial College London and the University of CambridgeIntegrated Information Decomposition, and the revised non-negative measure of integrated information
- Alberto LiardiImperial College LondonCo-author of the BBS commentary on compatibilist emergence
- Jeremy I. SkipperUniversity College LondonCo-author of the BBS commentary on compatibilist emergence
- Fernando E. RosasUniversity of Sussex, Imperial College London, University of Oxford, and PIBBSSCorresponding author of the BBS commentary on compatibilist emergence
Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.