Subjectivity: A Case of Biological Individuation and an Adaptive Response to Informational Overflow.
Frontiers in Psychology August 9, 2016 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01206 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Selection Information Subjectivity Action Conscious experience Biological individuation |
| Key points | Argues that biological individuation, acquired in stages, offers a provisional account of how subjective perspectives evolved, and that subjectivity is an adaptive response to informational overflow, serving as the most efficient means for an organism to select biologically valuable information. Proposes that subjectivity might be at least functionally dissociated from consciousness, with subjectivity primarily facilitating selection and consciousness facilitating action. |
Abstract
The article presents a perspective on the scientific explanation of the subjectivity of conscious experience. It proposes plausible answers for two empirically valid questions: the 'how' question concerning the developmental mechanisms of subjectivity, and the 'why' question concerning its function. Biological individuation, which is acquired in several different stages, serves as a provisional description of how subjective perspectives may have evolved. To the extent that an individuated informational space seems the most efficient way for a given organism to select biologically valuable information, subjectivity is deemed to constitute an adaptive response to informational overflow. One of the possible consequences of this view is that subjectivity might be (at least functionally) dissociated from consciousness, insofar as the former primarily facilitates selection, the latter action.
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Cited by 4
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- The why of the phenomenal aspect of consciousness: Its main functions and the mechanisms underpinning it Frontiers in Psychology July 28, 2022
- Working memory and consciousness: Ánfora July 5, 2022
- Consciousness: a unique way of processing information. Cognitive Processing August 1, 2018
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