When you ask why “perceptions seem to refer to the state of the world whereas pain seems to refer to the phenomenology,” I guess you’re referring to emotion versus pain, and I’d agree that the pain system certainly seems more “primitive” or “simple” when compared to the not quite as primitive subcortical, subconscious emotional neural systems.

I think the quick answer to your question is this: Pain deals with damage that has/is being done to the organism, whereas emotions, e.g., fear or anger, deal with potential damage, or threats. Here’s how I look at things based on what I’ve learned from guys like LeDoux and Damasio—

As nerve fibers detect tissue damage and initiate behavior (e.g., withdrawal of your hand from something hot), after which the perception that there is tissue damage and the “feeling” of pain enters your consciousness; so too subconscious neural structures detect (a “quick and dirty” detection) threatening stimuli, initiate behavior (e.g., running from danger), after which the perception that, in the case of fear, there is some sort of threat (e.g., a snake) and the feeling of the emotion(s) triggered enter your consciousness.

Although a difficulty in this comparison is that while the feelings of pain (and behavior initiated by it) seems to be more or less monolithic (although it certainly can vary in intensity); while the feelings of emotion entails many different emotions, feelings, and behaviors; I’d say that the two mechanism are similar in that they both deal, subconsciously and almost instantly, with damage, in the case of pain, and with potential damage (threats) in the case of emotions like fear, anger, etc., to the organism, instantly initiating appropriate behavior, after which we consciously become aware of the damage/threat (and usually also “learn” so as to modify future behavior.)

So I’d say that’s why, using your phraseology, “perceptions [i.e. the feelings of emotions triggered by “threats,” and the various conscious perceptions/thoughts that those feelings cause as one of the inputs into our conscious thinking process] seem to refer to the state of the world, whereas pain [the feeling of tissue damage that has already happened] seems to refer to [just, more or less] phenomenology.”



Unless you can show otherwise, I rarely, if ever, call people names, and rarely, if ever cast the first stone. OTOH, if your baby is ugly, I suppose I’m inclined to tell you it’s ugly, especially if you insist otherwise and provide no evidence to the contrary. For example, unless you’re actually doing real neuroscience research, I’d not be terribly concerned about “giving away for free stuff that [you] might be able to get published (and properly acknowledged) for”—guys like LeDoux and Damasio have almost certainly already thought of it and written about it. OTOH, if you’re trying to get published, I suppose you might get lucky and pick up something here. Regardless, I’d still strive for the “less is more” ideal.