The Sensory Order : An Inquiry Into the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology

The Nobel Prize-winning economist explores how the mind works—an early landmark in the field of cognitive science. The Sensory Order, first published in 1952, sets forth F. A. Hayek's classic theory of mind in which he describes the mental mechanism that classifies perceptions that cannot be accounted for by physical laws. Though Hayek is more commonly known as an icon in the field of economics, his genius was wide-ranging—and his contribution to theoretical psychology is of continuing significance to cognitive scientists as well as to economists interested in the interplay between psychology and market systems, and has been addressed in the work of Thomas Szasz, Gerald Edelman, and Joaquin Fuster. “A most encouraging example of a sustained attempt to bring together information, inference, and hypothesis in the several fields of biology, psychology, and philosophy.”—Quarterly Review of Biology The Nobel Prize-winning economist explores how the mind works—an early landmark in the field of cognitive science. The Sensory Order , first published in 1952, sets forth F. A. Hayek's classic theory of mind in which he describes the mental mechanism that classifies perceptions that cannot be accounted for by physical laws. Though Hayek is more commonly known as an icon in the field of economics, his genius was wide-ranging—and his contribution to theoretical psychology is of continuing significance to cognitive scientists as well as to economists interested in the interplay between psychology and market systems, and has been addressed in the work of Thomas Szasz, Gerald Edelman, and Joaquin Fuster. “A most encouraging example of a sustained attempt to bring together information, inference, and hypothesis in the several fields of biology, psychology, and philosophy.”— Quarterly Review of Biology The Sensory Order , first published in 1952, sets forth F. A. Hayek's classic theory of mind in which he describes the mental mechanism that classifies perceptions that cannot be accounted for by physical laws. Hayek's substantial contribution to theoretical psychology has been addressed in the work of Thomas Szasz, Gerald Edelman, and Joaquin Fuster. "A most encouraging example of a sustained attempt to bring together information, inference, and hypothesis in the several fields of biology, psychology, and philosophy." Quarterly Review of Biology F. A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, taught at the University of London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg. I.I The nature of the subject of this study makes its first task the most important and the most difficult: clearly to state the problem to which it will attempt an answer. This text sets forth Hayek's theory of mind in which he describes the mental mechanism which classifies perceptions that cannot be accounted for by physical laws.