The neuro- and evolutionary biology of drives, emotions, and feelings

[image: the connection between drives, emotions, and feelings, from the original paper by Damasio and Carvalho]

Antonio Damasio is arguably one of the most interesting modern scholars in that he is a highly skilled neuroscientist and yet has a sophisticated understanding of philosophy. That is why you will learn a heck of a lot more about consciousness by picking up one of his books than by reading much of the literature in philosophy of mind (with some exceptions).

Here I’d like to summarize a crucial technical paper co-authored by Damasio and Gil B. Carvalho, and published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience back in 2013, under the title “The nature of feelings: evolutionary and neurobiological origins.”

First off, a very important bit of nomenclature. Let us distinguish what Damasio calls drives, emotions, and feelings, all concepts that tend to get confused in everyday language.

Drives are sensations like hunger, thirst, libido, care for progeny, and attachment to a partner. Their evolutionary purpose is to satisfy basic instinctual needs.

Emotions include anger, fear, disgust, joy, sadness, contempt, pride, admiration, and compassion. Usually, they are in response to the perception or memory of external stimuli.

Feelings are the conscious awareness of “action programs” like drives and emotions.