Thompson, Evan (2022) Could All Life Be Sentient? [Preprint]

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Abstract

This paper concerns biopsychism, the position that feeling is a vital activity of all organisms or living beings. It evaluates biopsychism specifically from the perspective of the enactive conception of life and life-mind continuity. Does the enactive conception of life as fundamentally a value-constituting and value-driven process imply a conception of life as sentient of value? Although a plausible case can be made, there remains a conceptual and inferential gap between differential responsiveness to value and hedonic value or affective valence. Nevertheless, the case for zoopsychism—that animals are the only sentient living beings—over biopsychism is also inconclusive.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Thompson, Evan 0000-0003-0084-8477
Keywords:	affect, autopoiesis, biopsychism, consciousness, enactivism, feeling of being alive, hedonic value, life, life-mind continuity, panpsychism, sense-making, sentience, valence, value, zoopsychism
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Psychology > Comparative Psychology and Ethology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Psychology General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Depositing User:	Dr Evan Thompson
Date Deposited:	11 Mar 2022 02:16
Last Modified:	11 Mar 2022 02:16
Item ID:	20323
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Psychology > Comparative Psychology and Ethology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Neuroscience Specific Sciences > Psychology General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Date:	6 March 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20323

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