Again, the key point is that the process is
guided by representations. The selection criteria are especially noteworthy because this is where the theorizing process comes closest to the issue of validation and its substitutes. The criterion that selected among radar emissions was the presence or absence of echoes which were treated as surrogates for real collisions. The criterion that selected among thought trials was the presence or absence of an affective judgment (e.g., that's interesting, that's absurd) which was treated as a surrogate for confirma tion or disconfirmation. Neither the echo nor the judgment provides direct evidence of real objects or valid ideas. Nevertheless, subsequent actions unfold as if the evidence were direct. The navigational route is altered, the interesting conjecture is cumulated with other conjectures,and in both cases there is selective retention of variations that satisfy one or more criteria.