About the Journal

In recent centuries, scientists have found that many phenomena in nature obey physical laws that can be expressed precisely in the language of mathematics. Their successes have led scientific inquiry beyond the physical world to include what was previously considered metaphysical or non-material. Today, an increasing number of scientists are examining the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the human brain.

While most models of consciousness propose that it is a product of chemical and electrical behavior within the brain, no current theory resolves the so-called “hard problem of consciousness”—how physical processes in the nervous system give rise to subjective experiences such as experiencing, thinking, feeling, analyzing, and creating. At the same time, it is undeniable that without awareness—without consciousness—we cannot think, perceive, dream, or love. On this basis alone, a scientific journal dedicated to exploring the nature of consciousness is timely and appropriate.

While consciousness can be studied within a variety of disciplines, mathematics especially lends itself to examine the relationship between consciousness and physical phenomena. Mathematics is precise and rigorous in its methodology, giving symbolic expression to abstract patterns and relationships. Although developed subjectively, using intuition along with the intellect and logical reasoning, mathematics allows us to make sense of our outer physical universe. Mathematics is the most scientific representation of subjective human intelligence and thought, formalizing how individual human awareness perceives, discriminates, organizes, and expresses itself.

The scientific consideration of consciousness by itself is a formidable challenge, for consciousness is a purely abstract reality. But the study of what we might call “consciousness at work”— how consciousness expresses itself in our daily activity of thinking, analyzing, creating, theorizing, and feeling—is inherently more accessible. For this exploration also, mathematics is the ideal tool, because its ability to express patterns of abstract human awareness helps us make sense of our physical universe. One could in fact argue that mathematics is the most scientifically reliable tool for the exploration of the dynamics of consciousness, for it alone can be seen as the symbolic representation of “consciousness at work.”

The International Journal of Mathematics and Consciousness will help to fulfill the need for a forum of research and discussion of consciousness and its expressions. The editors invite mathematicians, scientists, and other thinkers to present their theories of consciousness without restriction to proposed axioms and postulates, with the stipulation only that such theories follow strict logical argumentation and respect proven facts and observations. Articles that use factual or logical counterarguments to challenge commonly believed but not fully established facts and observations are also welcome.