Reference and consciousness

Why do we need the notion of the phenomenal character of experience? We have to loot at the role that the notion plays in our reflective thinking, we have to ask what the point is of the notion. For example, if we are presented with an analysis of the phenomenal character of pain, we have to remember that pain is awful: we have to remember that pain is a source of concern and that we think it right to try to nullify pain where we can. If we are told, for instance, that being in pain is a matter of being in a particular kind of representational state, we have to ask why being in such a representational state should be awful; we have to ask what it is about this kind of representational state that means we should try to nullify it.