 Thus consider that a good map—say, of Midtown Manhattan—is typically a vehicle of understanding rather than an object of understanding. When it is accurate, it allows the mind to grasp how the streets and landmarks of Midtown are laid out, and to appreciate the relationships they bear to one another. Or again, typically when you take a look at your car’s gas gauge and form the belief that the tank is half empty, the gauge is the vehicle by which you form your belief about the gas, but it is not the object of your belief (see Dretske 1981). Assuming that the gauge is functioning properly, the object of your belief is the gas itself, while the gauge is simply the vehicle that represents the state of the gas to you.