Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences April 1, 2024 Brendan P. Zietsch
Pleasant and unpleasant sensations appear correlated with evolutionary fitness, but none of the major metaphysical perspectives on consciousness—physicalism, dualism, or panpsychism—explain this correlation through adaptation. The phenomenal powers view also fails. The author proposes a naturalistic, non-adaptive explanation: 'sensational associative learning' during development, where sensations paired with unconditioned stimuli (fitness rewards or threats) become interpreted as good or bad, while unpaired sensations remain unvalenced. This perspective also accounts for structural features like the ordinal experience of sound pitch versus color hue. It is compatible with physicalism, panpsychism, and dualism, but not epiphenomenalism.