 A crucial aspect of the debate is whether theorists of nonconceptual content can account for the rational role of perceptual states in belief formation. Although much of the discussion of whether perceptual content can be nonconceptual has focused on precisely how the manifest differences between perceptions and beliefs should be described (see, e.g., Kelly 2001b, Sedivy 1996, 2006), the important issue is whether those differences can be captured at the level of content in a way that explains how perceptions can justify beliefs. McDowell’s central claim is that there can be appropriate rational relations between perceptions and beliefs only if perceptions have conceptual contents, on the grounds that such rational relations can hold only between conceptual states (McDowell 1994a, 2006). This is a powerful challenge to defenders of nonconceptual content. It is far from clear, however, that they do not have the resources to meet it. This is an issue that has been much discussed in the philosophy of perception (most recently in Lerman 2010 and Cahen 2019).