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related 3.46 — strongly supporting 10 facts
The phenomenal powers view posits that pain possesses intrinsic properties that necessarily motivate avoidance behavior {fact:2, fact:10}, a claim that the author critiques by arguing that pain does not metaphysically necessitate such responses {fact:3, fact:5} and that instances of seeking pain challenge the validity of this perspective {fact:1, fact:8}.
Facts (10)
Sources
Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness link.springer.com 9 facts
perspectiveThe author argues that the phenomenal powers view of pain is problematic because pain cannot metaphysically necessitate avoidance behavior, as avoidance strategies are contingent on context, available means, and the subject's beliefs.
perspectiveThe 'phenomenal powers' perspective, proposed by Siri Hustvedt Mørch in 2017, argues that sensations like pain and pleasure possess intrinsic phenomenal powers that explain why they are associated with fitness threats and rewards.
claimSiri Hustvedt Mørch argues that it is inconceivable for anyone who has experienced pain to believe that pain could have anything other than a repulsive effect, which supports the view that phenomenal powers explain adaptive-seeming correlations.
claimSiri Mørch dismisses masochism as evidence against the phenomenal powers view by assuming that individuals are seeking an accompanying pleasure rather than the pain itself.
perspectiveThe author argues that first-person data regarding the enjoyment of pain itself is difficult to reconcile with the phenomenal powers view of consciousness.
perspectiveThe author argues that there is no strong reason to believe that pain sensation is intrinsically bad or that it metaphysically necessitates attempts to avoid it in virtue of how it feels.
accountSiri Hustvedt Mørch uses a thought experiment involving a girl named Maya, who has a congenital insensitivity to pain that is suddenly cured, to argue that pain has intrinsic phenomenal powers. Upon feeling pain for the first time after stepping on a nail, Maya would immediately understand that the sensation is repulsive and should be avoided, without needing to learn this through repeated associations.
perspectiveThe phenomenal powers view holds that it is impossible to rewire neural pathways such that a pain sensation leads to an action other than avoidance.
claimThe author argues that if individuals seek out pain for how it feels, the phenomenal powers view is disconfirmed.
Panpsychism - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
claimThe 'phenomenal powers view' asserts that phenomenal properties like pain or pleasure are intrinsically powerful, meaning the feeling of pain necessarily motivates avoidance behavior due to its specific phenomenal character.