Mind, Knowledge and Morality -- A Study on Hayek's Moral Philosophy and Its Foundations

Author: Ma Yongxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features:
1.2.5 External Stimuli, Nerve Pulses, Nerve Effects, and Sensory Qualities
We already know that the mental or sensory order is the order of sensory qualities, and sensory qualities are how external events manifest in our minds. They include the various attributes of sensation, which we distinguish in our "responses to different stimuli." In fact, the expression here can be further broken down into two related questions: (1) How exactly do sensory qualities manifest? (2) How are they distinguished in our "responses to different stimuli"? The second question here is of the same nature as the issue left over from our previous discussion—the formation and evolution of the mental or sensory order, or the principles or mechanisms of its formation and evolution. The answer to this will be presented gradually in Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of this section. Although this question is essentially a simplification of the second question, its answer can gradually guide us deeper into Hayek's text. So, how exactly do sensory qualities manifest? Like psychologists, Hayek appeals to a physiological process, more precisely a neural process. To clarify this physiological or neural process, we need to introduce several concepts: first, "stimulus" and "nerve pulse." Hayek defines these terms as follows: "In this discussion, the term 'stimulus' will always be used to refer to events external to the nervous system, which (mediated by or without the mediation of special receptors) cause neural processes in some nerve fibers, and these neural processes are conducted from the point of stimulation to other parts of the nervous system through these nerve fibers." (SO, 1.23) P58