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Tarasenko V.V. A dualistic basic ontology for testing the cognitive abilities of natural, artificial, and hybrid systems. Cognitive Sciences in the Information Society. 2026; 6(2). Available at: https://knio.ru/PDF/08KN126.pdf (in Russian).

A dualistic basic ontology for testing the cognitive abilities of natural, artificial, and hybrid systems

Tarasenko Vladislav Valerievich
State University of Education, Moscow, Russia
E-mail: v5093075@gmail.com

Abstract. The article proposes an approach to testing the cognitive abilities of natural, artificial, and hybrid systems, based not on measuring behavioral manifestations or neurocorrelates, but on diagnosing the pre‑experimental conditions for the possibility of subjective experience. Unlike classical intelligence tests (which capture the product of cognitive activity), consciousness tests (which run into the «hard problem» and the problem of the «philosophical zombie»), and neurocorrelational approaches (which leave an «explanatory gap»), the proposed transcendental test performs a Kantian «Copernican turn»: instead of searching for the substance or causes of consciousness, it diagnoses the a priori forms of experience organization, which can be captured at the boundary between the system and the environment.

It is argued that the only accessible object for testing is the boundary (membrane), rather than the internal states of the system (which are fundamentally unobservable) or the environment (which does not possess states). Three functional properties of the boundary that constitute subjective experience are identified: discretization (the generation of distinctions, which creates the space of experience), recursion (the retention of traces of past influences, which creates the time of experience), and reflection (the marking of one’s own states, which creates the unity of apperception, the «I»).

A distinction is made between basic ontology (the universal properties of the boundary that make experience possible) and substantive ontology (specific categories and methods of discretization, recursion, and reflection, which vary depending on the type of system). Learning is interpreted as a process of transforming the architecture of the boundary, rather than accumulating content.

The proposed approach does not solve but «removes» the difficult problem of consciousness, shifting the question from «what produces consciousness?» to «how is the boundary organized that makes experience possible?» The article is addressed to researchers in the fields of cognitive science, philosophy of consciousness, artificial intelligence, and pedagogy.

Keywords: testing cognitive abilities; transcendental turn; boundary (membrane); discretization; recursion; reflection; space of experience; time of experience; unity of apperception; basic ontology; substantive ontology; hard problem of consciousness; philosophical zombie; explanatory gap; hybrid systems; artificial intelligence; semiotic agency; projective epistemology