Why perception is not singular reference

pp. 111-120

in: John Heil (ed), Cause, mind, and reality, Berlin, Springer, 1989

Abstract

Charles Chastain has developed a general notion of singular reference based on the reference relation a singular term bears to its referent.¹ He holds that perception is, in this broad sense, a kind of reference. Subtleties aside, he holds that one perceives something if and only if one has a sense experience that refers to it.² This account of perception plays a central role in his framework for a theory of reference: Perceptual reference is, he holds, the primary way that referential chains are initiated.