Functional theories can describe many features of conscious phenomenology but cannot account for its existence

This is a commentary on Merker, Williford & Rudrauf (2022), “The integrated information theory of consciousness: Unmasked and identified”, a target article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 45, e65. Merker, Williford & Rudrauf argue persuasively that integrated information is not identical to or sufficient for consciousness, and that projective geometries more closely formalize the spatial features of conscious phenomenology. However, these too, are not identical to or sufficient for consciousness. While such third-person specifiable functional theories can describe the many forms of consciousness, they cannot account for its existence.