The Becoming of Consciousness: 7 Cognitive Science and Networks: Mapping the Relational Mind

The advent of cognitive science reframes consciousness as a distributed, interactive system, integrating empirical research with computational, neuroscientific, and psychological models. Here, the mind is not a monolithic entity but a network of interacting modules, processes, and feedback loops. Possibility is realised within dynamic relational architectures: perception, memory, reasoning, and action co-evolve, shaping the horizon of what can be known, imagined, or enacted.

Neural and computational models emphasise pattern recognition, information flow, and emergent properties. Thought and awareness arise through relational interdependencies, rather than isolated processing units. Possibility is therefore contingent and probabilistic, structured by both neural connectivity and environmental engagement. Feedback loops ensure that instantiation and individuation are continuous: the system is self-modifying, learning, and adapting within its relational milieu.

Embodied cognition further situates consciousness within sensorimotor and environmental contexts, echoing phenomenological insights while providing formalised accounts of how relational dynamics shape potential. Cognitive architectures are affordance-sensitive, meaning that possibilities are defined relative to both internal capacities and external constraints. Human and machine cognition alike demonstrate that relational structuring governs the emergence, limitation, and expansion of potential.

Across these models, consciousness is revealed as relationally extended, emergent, and co-constitutive. Reflexive awareness is no longer merely introspective; it is network-sensitive, shaped by interactions across biological, symbolic, and social systems. Possibility itself is a function of the relational dynamics within which cognitive processes unfold.

Modulatory voices: Herbert Simon, Marvin Minsky, Francisco Varela, Eleanor Rosch.