The value of consciousness: experiences worth having.
Léa Moncoucy, Krzysztof Dołęga, Catherine Tallon-baudry, Axel Cleeremans
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences November 13, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0303 via PubMed
Summary
Phenomenal experience has intrinsic value that cannot be reduced to evolutionary cost functions. While all organisms act for reasons shaped by evolution, some also act for subjective, preference-driven reasons that may even be detrimental to survival. This subjective value broadens behavior beyond mere responsiveness to extrinsic evolutionary pressures, acting both as a driver and a target for behavior.
Study at a glance
| Design | review |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Phenomenal experience has intrinsic value that cannot always be reduced to extrinsic evolutionary values, as subjective value can act as both a driver and a target for behavior. |
Abstract
DC. Dennett (2020,personal communication) asked: 'How do we go from doing things for reasons to having reasons for doing things?'. This question targets a fundamental shift in nature: while all organisms act in the way they do for reasons that are shaped by extrinsic evolutionary cost functions, some also act for reasons of their own, even engaging in behaviour that may be detrimental to their own existence. For such organisms, we argue, phenomenal experience-what it feels like-has intrinsic value. Here, we elaborate on the perspective developed by Axel Cleeremans and Catherine Tallon-Baudry (Cleeremans, Tallon-Baudry 2022 Neurosci. Conscious, 2022, niac007. (doi:10.1093/nc/niac007)) and defend the claim that phenomenal experience broadens an organism's ability to act in a manner that is not merely responsive to the objective value of an extrinsic evolutionary cost function but is also shaped by the preference-driven subjective value associated with items, situations, events or other agents. Importantly, we argue that the intrinsic value of subjective experience cannot always be reduced to other forms of extrinsic values, because subjective value can act not only as a driver of behaviour, but also as a target for behaviour.This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary functions of consciousness'.