Abstract

This chapter defends a projectivist account of perception. Distinctions are drawn between theories of perception, the philosophical pictures that motivate such theories, and the functions of perception in our lives. According to the _Navigational Picture_, the central function of perception is to provide knowledge about objects that enables subjects to navigate around their environment and make beneficial use of it. None of this requires the revelation of the intrinsic nature of the sensible properties of external objects. The _Confrontation Picture_ underlies Direct Realism. It is argued that this theory of perception cannot provide a positive account of the experiential relation it posits, or explain how the individual contents of experiences are determined. These considerations support a causal theory of perception, whereby phenomenal qualities are located on the side of the observer, and not in the objects we perceive. They are projected onto the objects we take to be present.