ABSTRACT
A particular source of normativity in perception is pinpointed. It is examined how normatively ideal types are integrated into our perceptual experiences. A generalized version of the type-token distinction in C.S. Peirce is made use of to highlight the role of abstract forms as standards for discrimination and organization in sensory manifolds. Charles Parsons’s notion of quasi-concrete objects that have concrete “embodiments” throws more light upon the status of types, as does Richard Wollheim’s idea that there is transmission of properties between types and tokens. Superimposition of types is seen to be related to pre-given goals and to epistemic and social values. On that basis, a phenomenological account is offered of one fundamental way in which perceived scenes are normatively structured. This brings out shortcomings in Edmund Husserl’s own construal of phenomenological presence.
