# Projection, Revelation, and the Function of Perception Paul Coates **Keywords:** causal theory of perception, confrontation picture, navigational picture, direct realism, disjunctivism, intrinsic properties, inverted spectrum, phenomenal qualities, projectivism, revelation **Abstract:** This paper 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 items in it. None of this requires the revelation of the intrinsic nature of the sensible properties of external objects. A different view, the Confrontation Picture underlies Direct Realism. It is argued that this theory of perception is difficult to make clear sense of. It cannot provide a positive account of the experiential relation it posits, and cannot explain how the individual contents of experiences are determined. These considerations support a causal theory of perception, according to which 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. **Authors:** [[Paul Coates]]