A Genesis-Based Model of Valence Feeling: The "Dual-Channel / Organismic-Concern System" and a Three-Fold Decomposition of the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that the hard problem of consciousness is an artifact of three presuppositions—mind-body dualism, observer neutrality, and the isolated subject—and proposes a "dual-channel / organismic-concern system" model in which bodily sensation and social/symbolic input feed a self-concern system that evaluates benefit and harm and outputs valence feeling. The authors decompose the hard problem into valence generation, experiential presentation, and qualia difference, offering genesis-based models or candidates without claiming a solution. |
Abstract
The hard problem of consciousness has long appeared intractable not because of the problem itself, but because its very formulation smuggles in three reviewable presuppositions: a mindbody dualist ontology, an observer-neutrality assumption, and-most insidiously-the presupposition of the isolated subject. This paper argues that the classical formulation splits a single continuous genetic chain-physical input → system state → first-personal experienceinto two entities, "objective neural event" and "subjective experience," and then asks how the former produces the latter, thereby manufacturing the very gap it purports to explain. On this basis, we propose a "dual-channel / organismic-concern system" model: bodily sensation (channel one) and social/symbolic input (channel two) feed into a self-concern system that evaluates benefit and harm, and the output is valence feeling-a first-personal signal that drives action. Using color experience and symbolic value exchange as cases, we demonstrate the model's unified explanatory power, and decompose the hard problem into three sub-problems-valence generation, experiential presentation, and qualia difference-for each of which we supply a genesis-based model or a positive candidate. We do not claim to solve the hard problem; our aim is to decompose the black box into several describable, testable genesis-based paths.