Markus Gabriel

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Markus Gabriel challenges the dominant materialist view of consciousness, arguing that the mind cannot be reduced to brain activity. His work spans philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and ethics, with a central focus on defending the irreducibility of mental phenomena. In his widely discussed book *I Am Not a Brain: Philosophy of Mind for the Twenty-First Century* (2017), Gabriel critiques "neuromania"—the overreliance on neuroscience to explain human experience—and argues for a non-reductive, pluralistic ontology. His paper "Could a Robot Be Conscious? Some Lessons from Philosophy" (2021) extends this critique to artificial intelligence, contending that consciousness requires a first-person perspective that machines cannot replicate. While his citation counts (12 and 7 for these works) reflect a niche but engaged audience, Gabriel’s influence extends beyond academia through his accessible writing and public lectures. He is a professor at the University of Bonn and director of the International Center for Philosophy, where he promotes a "new realism" that takes our everyday experience of the world seriously. For students and researchers, Gabriel offers a provocative counterpoint to neurocentrism, urging us to reconsider what it means to be a conscious self in the twenty-first century.