Memory

Remembering takes many distinctive forms. Philosophers have primarily discussed the form of memory in which I remember episodes and experiences in my own past. Such ‘personal’ (or ‘experiential’ or ‘episodic’) memories seem to represent the past events to which they refer, and to depend on certain kinds of causal connections between past and present. In ‘factual’ or ‘semantic’ memory, in contrast, I need not have personally experienced what I now remember. ‘Declarative’ memory of both these forms aims at truth, but can go wrong in minor or dramatic ways. We also remember both to do certain things (‘prospective’ memory), and how to do certain things (‘procedural’ memory). Philosophers discuss the nature, functions, and mechanisms of memory; its relations to perception, imagination, dreams, emotions, and knowledge; and its connections with personal identity, responsibility, and our moral and social lives. Memory is an active topic of interdisciplinary research between philosophy, cognitive science, and the social sciences.