What if some questions have no answers—not because answers don’t exist, but because we are simply not built to understand them?
This is the provocative suggestion of mysterianism, a philosophical position that argues the human mind may be cognitively closed to certain truths—especially the deepest truths about itself. In particular, mysterianism holds that we may never truly understand consciousness, not due to lack of effort or evidence, but due to the limits of our cognitive architecture.
In a world that prizes progress, intelligence, and infinite discovery, mysterianism is a kind of heresy. It suggests that the final frontier—the mystery of consciousness—is not just hard. It may be unsolvable by minds like ours.
But what exactly is mysterianism? What drives this view? And is it an honest reckoning with our limits—or a retreat too soon from the most important question we can ask?
What Is Mysterianism?
Mysterianism—sometimes called new mysterianism—was popularized by philosopher Colin McGinn in the 1990s. The core idea is simple but radical:
The problem of consciousness is real and profound, but we are not cognitively equipped to solve it.
Just as some animals can’t grasp arithmetic, humans may be unable to grasp how physical processes in the brain produce subjective experience—the raw feel of pain, the redness of red, the scent of pine.
This is not a claim that consciousness is magical or outside science. It is a claim that the explanatory gap between brain and experience may be permanently inaccessible to us, in the same way that quantum mechanics is inaccessible to a dog.
In McGinn’s words:
“We are cognitively closed with respect to the natural facts that entail consciousness.”
Why Believe It?
Mysterianism draws strength from two major observations:
1. The Persistence of the Hard Problem
Despite enormous scientific progress, the “hard problem” of consciousness—why and how subjective experience arises from brain activity—remains unresolved.
We can explain how the brain processes information, integrates signals, or coordinates action. But we still can’t explain why any of this feels like anything from the inside.
If we’ve made so much progress in other areas—and so little here—perhaps it’s not just a matter of time. Perhaps it’s a category of question our minds are not suited to answer.
2. The Limits of Cognitive Capacity
Human cognition evolved for survival and reproduction, not for grasping metaphysical truth. There are already many things we struggle with:
- Four-dimensional space.
- Infinite numbers.
- Complex quantum behavior.
Mysterianism suggests that consciousness may be like this: too complex, too alien, or too conceptually distant from our evolved cognitive tools to fully comprehend.
Just as a cat cannot understand calculus, we may not be able to understand ourselves.
What Mysterianism Is Not
It’s important to be clear:
- Mysterianism does not claim consciousness is supernatural or non-physical.
- It does not say science is useless—just that science may hit a wall with certain questions.
- It does not glorify ignorance—but rather, calls for epistemic humility.
It is a position of agnostic realism: consciousness is real, physical, and deeply mysterious—not because it resists investigation, but because we are the kind of beings that cannot bridge the gap.
Criticisms of Mysterianism
Unsurprisingly, mysterianism has critics:
1. Premature Surrender
Some argue that mysterianism gives up too early. History is full of once-unsolvable mysteries—light, disease, the shape of the Earth—that yielded to better tools and frameworks. Why assume consciousness is different?
2. Unprovable Skepticism
Mysterianism claims that the truth is unknowable—but how can we know that? If the mystery is truly beyond us, then so is the knowledge that it’s beyond us. This makes mysterianism hard to support or falsify.
3. Psychological Projection
Others suggest mysterianism reflects frustration more than fact. Because consciousness resists current explanations, we’re tempted to project our limitations onto the question itself.
Still, for some, mysterianism remains a deeply rational response to an honest impasse.
Mysterianism as Mirror
Whether we accept mysterianism or not, it forces us to confront a deeper question:
What do we do with mystery?
In an age of data and calculation, we’re often uncomfortable with unknowing. But mysterianism reminds us that the mind may never fully contain itself. That some truths may remain felt but unfathomable—like the taste of time, or the shimmer of memory.
And in this way, mysterianism is not just about the brain.
It is about the shape of human knowing—what it can reach, and what it must circle forever.
Final Thoughts: Beyond Understanding?
Is mysterianism the end of the road? Or is it a challenge—to stretch our metaphors, rework our frameworks, and invent new forms of inquiry?
Perhaps the mystery of consciousness is not meant to be solved in the usual way. Perhaps it is something to be lived with, not conquered—a constant reminder that even as we map stars and simulate minds, we remain mysteries to ourselves.
Maybe that is not a defeat.
Maybe that is the beginning of wisdom.