Error detection is not necessary for representation

Some philosophers have recently proposed an error detection condition (EDC) for representation, such that for to be a representation for system , must be capable of detecting errors in tokenings of . We argue that this condition is unmotivated, and that it is too strong. We show that theories of representation that are committed to the EDC will fail to capture cases of representation proposed to account for visual illusions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Mind & Language
Published
2026-02-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.70011
Primary Topic
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Error detection is not necessary for representation

Kenneth Aizawa, Ori Hacohen
Mind & Language
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
article

Error detection is not necessary for representation

Kenneth Aizawa, Ori Hacohen
article en

Abstract

Some philosophers have recently proposed an error detection condition (EDC) for representation, such that for to be a representation for system , must be capable of detecting errors in tokenings of . We argue that this condition is unmotivated, and that it is too strong. We show that theories of representation that are committed to the EDC will fail to capture cases of representation proposed to account for visual illusions.

Mind & Language
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
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