Perceptual Attributives and Referential Applications in Perceptual Constancies

Abstract

Chapter 7 develops similarities and differences between Frege’s account of the sense–Bedeutung distinction and the way the various perceptual states linked in a perceptual constancy relate to a common representatum. It is argued, by reference both to representation of color features and to representation of spatial attributes in perceptual coordinate systems, that there are multiple non-complex perceptual attributives (hence, representational contents) for each attribute that is attributed by perceptual states. The discussion connects representation of attributes in packages (color, shape, size, orientation, location, timing, and body, for example) to the representation of entities within coordinate systems, and more generally to the iconic nature of perceptual representation. The type of linkage in perceptual constancies between different attributives for a given attribute is discussed, and differences between such linkages and linguistic representation of a given entity by words with difference senses are explained. The form that such linkages take in perceptual representational content is elaborated. The chapter summarizes accuracy conditions for perceptual representational contents. It ends by characterizing the representational form of perceptual tracking of particulars via a succession of perceptual states.