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    Carmelics

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    Evolutionary arguments establish that phenomenal consciou... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The threat of epiphenomenal irrelevance cannot be simply dismissed as an obvious non-option

    Evolutionary arguments establish that phenomenal consciousness was selected for, providing strong empirical grounds that it is causally efficacious.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Natural selection only preserves traits that causally impact survival or reproduction; consciousness persists across species.
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    • 2.Organisms with richer phenomenal experiences demonstrate superior behavioral flexibility and adaptive decision-making.
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    • 3.The metabolic cost of consciousness implies it provides fitness benefits that epiphenomenalism cannot explain.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Selection may have favored information-processing systems whose causal work occurs at neural level, not phenomenal level.
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    • 2.We lack evidence that phenomenal properties (redness, painfulness) do causal work distinct from their physical substrates.
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    • 3.Metabolic investment in consciousness could be byproduct of selecting other causally efficacious features like memory and attention.
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    Consciousness & Mind1 linked

    Related

    Metabolic investment in consciousness could be byproduct of selecting other caus...Natural selection only preserves traits that causally impact survival or reprodu...Organisms with richer phenomenal experiences demonstrate superior behavioral fle...Selection may have favored information-processing systems whose causal work occu...
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    The metabolic cost of consciousness implies it provides fitness benefits that ep...The threat of epiphenomenal irrelevance cannot be simply dismissed as an obvious...We lack evidence that phenomenal properties (redness, painfulness) do causal wor...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit