commonsense wrote: ↑Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:13 pm
I don’t think there are examples where perception can take place without either pre-existing concepts or the formulation of concepts.
Perception is a thinking process. A la Chomsky, thought is intertwined with language, and language consists of pointers that relate to the world, either real or imagined.
No. I think you are mistaking Chomsky's work on this matter.
Whilst generally we tend to have a conceptual anticipation of all perception, and this can explain many anomalies and failures of perception. I do not think Chomsky would accept your stark assertion without some reservations.
We have evolved from living things which have no conception of what they are perceiving. All creatures without language are perfectly happy perceiving things, without having concepts to lable their conceptions. Moreover, we can perceiving many aspect, details and nuances of colour, art, music, feelings for which no set of concepts are understood.
Most people are perfectly capable of understanding, say, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony without having the concepts of
transposition, prestissimo, candence, crescendo, forte, glissando ad infinitem yet hear them, and perceive them perfectly.
There are many examples where perception can occur without ANY conceptions. How else could you preceive something new, such as a thing never seen, or heard?