"I am using the word "perceive". I am using it here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word. If there is thought to be a difficulty here, it is perhaps because there is also a correct and familiar usage of the word "perceive", in which to say of an object that it is perceived does carry the implication that it exists."
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The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._J._Ayer
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A. J. Ayer
Sir Alfred Jules Ayer (29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), more often referred to as A. J. Ayer or Freddie Ayer, was a British humanist philosopher, who was one of the leading proponents of logical positivism.
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