<p>Object perception is usually regarded in cognitive science as a matter of classification, in which we represent objects as belonging to a certain class that provides them with semantic content. The main goal of this paper is to offer an alternative, ecological approach to object classification that does not rely on the notion of representation. Thus, we aim to develop a first approximation to a theoretical background from which to understand past, present, and future empirical research on classification from an embodied non-representational perspective. To do so, we first critically examine the two basic assumptions of representational theories of classification. Then, drawing upon ecological psychology and pragmatist approaches to science, we propose an ecologically valid notion of object that redefines classification as an embodied social practice. As a result, we argue that empirical objects are sets of socially mediated affordances, and that classification is a matter of perceiving these objects as part of meaningful behavior settings.</p>