Abstract Mohan Matthen holds that visual perceptual content is divided into descriptive and referential elements. Descriptive content is our awareness of sensory features belonging to objects located in the visual field. Matthen conceives of this in terms of an image. The referential element is a demonstrative form of content, by which we pick out those objects as particulars and assert their physical presence. Matthen terms this ‘the feeling of presence’. Together, they make up the ‘assembled message’ that visual states present to the perceiver in perceptual experience. I argue that the two elements cannot play together as Matthen envisages. Beginning with the referential element, I show that the feeling of presence is unable to both provide demonstrative reference and assert that the visual state reflects how things are. Turning to the descriptive element, I argue that Matthen is committed to a view on which descriptive (or image) content is a mental entity, a reified image. This is a common element across perceptual experience, episodic memory and visual imagination. The mental entity proves a defective ingredient in assembling perceptual content that purports to present reality. There are problems integrating the depicted viewpoint with the subject’s actual viewpoint, and problems maintaining a coherent notion of assertion. I argue that the project of assembling perceptual experience from descriptive and referential elements is unworkable.

Max Minden Ribeiro

Synthese

SYNTHESE 是一本哲学期刊，专注于认识论、科学哲学和相关领域的当代问题。更具体地说，我们将我们感兴趣的领域分为四类：（1）认识论、方法论和科学哲学，这些都是广泛理解的。 (2) 逻辑和数学的基础，其中“逻辑”、“数学”和“基础”都是广义的。 (3)哲学中的形式方法，包括将哲学与其他学术领域联系起来的方法。 (4) 伦理学和逻辑、数学和科学的历史和社会学问题，这些问题有助于当代研究 SYNTHESES 所关注的，如上文 (1)-(3) 所述。

SYNTHESE is a philosophy journal that focuses on contemporary issues in epistemology, philosophy of science, and related fields. We categorize our areas of interest into four groups: (1) broadly understood epistemology, methodology, and philosophy of science; (2) foundations of logic and mathematics, where 'logic', 'mathematics', and 'foundations' are understood in a broad sense; (3) formal methods in philosophy, particularly methods that connect philosophy with other academic disciplines; (4) ethical issues and the historical and sociological aspects of logic, mathematics, and science, which are significant for contemporary research in the areas of interest outlined in (1)-(3).

SYNTHESE 是一本专注于认识论、科学哲学及相关领域当代问题的哲学期刊。我们将关注的领域分为四个类别：（1）广泛理解的认识论、方法论和科学哲学；（2）逻辑和数学基础，其中“逻辑”、“数学”和“基础”均为广义概念；（3）哲学中的形式方法，尤其是将哲学与其他学科相结合的方法；（4）伦理学以及逻辑、数学和科学的历史与社会学问题，这些问题对当代研究 SYNTHESE 所关注的领域（如前述的 (1)-(3)）具有重要意义。

Category	Quartile
哲学	1
哲学, 科学史与科学哲学	1
哲学, 哲学	1

An assembled message: Matthen on the content of perceptual experience

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