Is matter cognitively inert? Quantum pancognitivism and the conceptuality interpretation
We argue that the conceptuality interpretation of quantum theory supports a radical form of pancognitivism, which we call quantum pancognitivism, according to which matter is not cognitively inert. After distinguishing pancognitivism from panpsychism and situating it in relation to contemporary approaches to generalized cognition, we propose that quantum entities can be understood as conceptual entities whose behavior involves contextuality, the actualization of potential properties, and the creation of emergent meaning. Drawing on quantum cognition and the Brussels operational-realistic approach, we suggest that quantum theory may describe not only microscopic physical processes, but also more general dynamics governed by meaning. We further develop this view by considering the bosonic-fermionic dual-track modality of conceptual entities: at a more concrete fermionic level, cognition manifests through exclusive placeholder-states that allow communication and state-based individuality, whereas at a more abstract bosonic level it operates through shared semantic states, potentiality, and global meaning structures. On this view, cognition is not restricted to brains, organisms, or artificial systems, but expresses a structural dimension of reality. Quantum pancognitivism does not claim that matter is conscious or thinks like a human being; rather, it proposes that cognition is already operative at the level of so-called inert matter.
