Reference and Consciousness

Abstract Conscious attention to an object, singling it out in experience, provides knowledge of the reference of a demonstrative term. Knowledge of reference is the foundation of the ability to verify propositions about the object and of the ability to act on the object. To understand the relations between knowledge of reference, verification, and action, we have to look at the relations between conscious attention, visual information processing, and the motor system. Why should it be specifically conscious attention that provides the knowledge of reference? Knowledge of reference demands acquaintance with the individual, categorical substances around us, and not merely collections of affordances. I argue that…