QUALIA, MOTIVATION, AND CAUSALITY
Vladimir Filoverum
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) October 17, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23438834 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that affective states may integrate heterogeneous information to influence action selection and goal generation at a functional level, while a stronger ontological hypothesis—that subjective experience is connected to the evaluation of world-histories and actions—requires additional premises and remains untested. Proposes a staged empirical research programme rather than claiming to solve the hard problem. |
Abstract
This paper develops a two-level proposal concerning consciousness. At the functional level, affective states may integrate heterogeneous information about bodily condition, goals, learned values, and anticipated outcomes, thereby influencing action selection and the generation of new goals. At the ontological level, the paper considers a stronger hypothesis inspired by verumika: that subjective experience is not merely an incidental accompaniment of physical processes but is connected to the conditions under which a world-history and the actions of subjects are evaluated. The two levels are deliberately distinguished. Evidence that affect contributes to agency does not by itself establish that phenomenal experience is necessary for computation, nor does it solve the hard problem of why physical or computational processes are accompanied by experience. The paper formalizes a preliminary decision model, identifies the additional premises required for an ontological extension, examines alternative explanations, and proposes a staged empirical research programme. The central contribution is therefore a testable research framework rather than a claim that the hard problem has already been conclusively solved.