Consciousness matters: phenomenal experience has functional value.
Axel Cleeremans, Catherine Tallon-Baudry
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2022 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niac007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Consciousness Feeling Function Phenomenal experience |
| Citations | 97 |
| Key points | Proposes that phenomenal consciousness has intrinsic value, which gives it a function by motivating behavior and enabling comparison of experiences, thereby making the hard problem of consciousness more tractable. |
Abstract
'Why would we do anything at all if the doing was not doing something to us?' In other words: What is consciousness good for? Here, reversing classical views, according to many of which subjective experience is a mere epiphenomenon that affords no functional advantage, we propose that subject-level experience-'What it feels like'-is endowed with intrinsic value, and it is precisely the value agents associate with their experiences that explains why they do certain things and avoid others. Because experiences have value and guide behaviour, consciousness has a function. Under this hypothesis of 'phenomenal worthiness', we argue that it is only in virtue of the fact that conscious agents 'experience' things and 'care' about those experiences that they are 'motivated' to act in certain ways and that they 'prefer' some states of affairs vs. others. Overviewing how the concept of value has been approached in decision-making, emotion research and consciousness research, we argue that phenomenal consciousness has intrinsic value and conclude that if this is indeed the case, then it must have a function. Phenomenal experience might act as a mental currency of sorts, which not only endows conscious mental states with intrinsic value but also makes it possible for conscious agents to compare vastly different experiences in a common subject-centred space-a feature that readily explains the fact that consciousness is 'unified'. The phenomenal worthiness hypothesis, in turn, makes the 'hard problem' of consciousness more tractable, since it can then be reduced to a problem about function.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 39
- A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology August 1, 2024
- Unpacking the complexities of consciousness: Theories and reflections. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 1, 2025
- Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there? Frontiers in Science October 30, 2025
- We need to explain subjective experience, but its explanation may not be mechanistic Neuroscience of Consciousness August 29, 2022
- The function(s) of consciousness: an evolutionary perspective. Frontiers in Psychology 2024
and 34 more in the library
Cites 25
- On a confusion about a function of consciousness Behavioral and Brain Sciences June 1, 1995
- Two neural correlates of consciousness Trends in Cognitive Sciences January 13, 2005
- Are There Levels of Consciousness? Trends in Cognitive Sciences April 22, 2016
- Phenomenology, Structure, and Dynamic of Psychedelic States Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 2016
- Perception and Iconic Memory: What Sperling Doesn't Show Mind & Language September 1, 2011
and 20 more in the library