The Variety of Conceptions of Representation

The origins of the word representation are traced from antiquity to modern times when representation is used in discussion of art objects, reports, maps and in a variety of other contexts. The idea of representing something is most at home in the domain of artefactual representations. These have the following feature, namely that the medium (viz. oil, pencil, marble etc) is clearly distinct from the message that is depicted or portrayed (and that does not have to exist). But what are taken as ‘mental representations’ (ideas, perceptions, images, etc) are all message and no medium. What justifies the extension of representation involving an artefactual medium, to that of mental images (the message) to a medium-less mental medium? The principal motivation for the internalization of representations were: (i) Galileo’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities; (ii) the inner/outer conception of the mind; (iii) the cognitive assumption (how does one know one perceives?). We show all of these are confused and so is the idea of the internalization of representations.