Consciousness, Subjective Experience, and the Evolution of Human Emotion: A Universal Law Framework

Abstract Consciousness, subjective experience, and human emotion remain among the most profound and unresolved questions in philosophy, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology. Existing theories—such as the Neural Correlates of Consciousness, Integrated Information Theory, and Global Workspace Theory—offer insights into mechanisms but do not fully explain the first-person “felt” aspect of experience, nor the evolutionary function of emotions. This paper proposes a unifying framework based on three universal laws of nature: the Law of Karma (cause-effect in systems), the Law of Balance, and the Law of Cyclical Interaction. Within this framework, emotions are conceptualized as the brain and mind’s intrinsic balancing mechanism, subjective experience as the first-person manifestation of emotional feedback, and consciousness as the integrative system coordinating adaptive responses. This approach bridges philosophy, neuroscience, and evolutionary theory, offering a holistic explanation for the emergence and function of human emotion and consciousness.