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Relations (1)
related 0.70 — strongly supporting 6 facts
Consciousness and pain are linked through the philosophical debate regarding sentience and subjective experience, where pain is often cited as a primary example of a valenced conscious state [1]. Furthermore, pain is theorized to be an evolutionarily significant function of consciousness {fact:3, fact:7} that involves the monitoring of bodily states [2] and serves as a critical test case for theories regarding the causal influence of conscious experience {fact:1, fact:6}.
Facts (6)
Sources
Dualism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2016 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
perspectiveMany philosophers reject the epiphenomenalist view of consciousness because it implies that conscious experiences—such as feeling pain, visual sensations, or understanding an argument—have no causal influence on human behavior.
Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimHumphreys (1992) suggests that if the intrinsic and directly experienced motivational force of pain is real, it may be one of the most important and evolutionarily oldest ways in which consciousness influences mental systems and processes.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimIt is conceptually possible to imagine a creature that is physically and behaviorally identical to a human but lacks subjective experience, such as the ability to feel pain.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimThe consciousness of pain involves the monitoring and processing of information regarding significant states of the body.
Complexity and the Evolution of Consciousness | Biological Theory link.springer.com 1 fact
quote[I]t seems certain, as a matter of observable fact, that the association of Pleasure and Pain with organic states and processes which are respectively beneficial and deleterious to the organism, is the most important function of Consciousness in the scheme of Evolution. And for this reason I have placed the origin of Pleasures and Pains very low down in the scale of conscious life.
Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness link.springer.com 1 fact
perspectiveThe author argues that first-person data regarding the enjoyment of pain itself is difficult to reconcile with the phenomenal powers view of consciousness.