The Distinction Between Conceptual and Nonconceptual Content

Abstract The terminology of the conceptual/nonconceptual distinction was originally introduced by Gareth Evans to clarify the relation between perceptual states and what Evans termed the reasoning and concept-applying system. Evans's basic idea that perceptual experiences represent the environment in a manner independent of the perceiver's conceptual repertoire has antecedents in Dretske's distinction between analogue content and digital content. This way of using the conceptual/nonconceptual distinction has been developed most systematically by Christopher Peacocke, who has argued that we need a notion of nonconceptual content in order adequately to explain the epistemological dimension of concept possession an argument that, in turn, has attracted spirited critical discussion.

The Distinction Between Conceptual and Nonconceptual Content Chapter