Cognitive systems evolve through recursive processing of information within structural constraints imposed by biological and computational architectures. Within the Paton System, continuation of any system requires admissibility: each new state must remain compatible with the governing constraints of the system. This paper interprets consciousness not as a substance or isolated property but as a region of admissible recursive cognition. Conscious awareness corresponds to stable propagation of cognitive states within a bounded structural frame. When recursion exceeds admissible limits—through overload, fragmentation, or structural incompatibility—coherent cognition collapses. The resulting boundary conditions define a structural limit to conscious processing. This interpretation reframes consciousness as a stability region within recursive cognitive systems rather than a standalone phenomenon and aligns cognitive science with the admissibility framework of the Paton System.
Andrew John Paton (Tue,) studied this question.
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