A sketch of the ways that concepts allow us to make sense of traces of action in the world (or simply of processes, if we do not wish to posit an actor).
Actions (or processes) leave traces. Traces of such processes include beings, such as houses, roads, animals and plants, and also non-beings, some of which may be potential beings, for example new species or scientific phenomena to be named in the future.
The intelligibility of traces depends on having access to meaningful concepts, such as the concept of an oak or an owl. Not only must we have developed the relevant concept in ourselves and become sufficiently familiar with it, but it must also present itself at the right time when we encounter pre-conceptual oak-indications or owl-indications (or traces of an oak-making process). Some doubt as to whether the traces are of an oak or of a different tree is allowed at first, but not later as the learner becomes more experienced in the world of trees.
What presents itself is not merely an instance of the concept “oak” but also qualities of the oak. It may be towering, withered, majestic or small. Weather conditions and parasites may have left all kinds of marks that interleave themselves with the basic impression. The oak’s particularity is inexhaustible. “I saw an oak” is in no way a complete account of what was seen. Indeed the task of seeing the oak itself may be time-consuming and difficult if taken seriously. A world where all oaks were merely pure instances of the oak concept would be a completely meaningless one.
If what is perceived is man-made, then it will be the perception of a process that contains in part a sequence of actions carried out by humans (but necessarily has its ultimate origin in a non-human process). Here the additional dimension of intent may be added to the act of perception. Through our understanding of ourselves and of our culture, we may be able to work out what was created and why, and for what purpose. The case of a neighbour redecorating their garden is comparable in quality to that of encountering a foreign culture and trying to understand its religious ceremonies and objects. In a time of conflict, we may look at the object as a source of potential hostility or friendliness.
Man-made objects will be the easiest ones to imitate since intent and human actions may be extracted from the traces. Seeing a man-made object will in many cases allow someone with sufficient pre-existing skill to create a similar object. Natural processes are considerably harder. We are as yet unable to manufacture oaks or owls from scratch (not the same as sowing an acorn or hatching an egg). Laboratories, biomedical and otherwise, are constantly at work translating the processes of nature into sequences of human actions (e.g. molecular cloning protocols). Thus science works by expanding the space of what is, or can be, man-made.
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