Memory and temporal awareness Jordi Fernández Macquarie University

The project Memory experiences have Content, or intentional properties  If you remember that p, the fact that p appears to you as having happened in the past In a way that respects their phenomenology Phenomenology, or phenomenal properties Specify the content of memory experiences

Specifying “content” Memory experiences can be correct or incorrect. To claim that the content of M = proposition P: What it takes for M to be correct is that P. To specify the content of M: To specify what it takes for M to be correct.

“What it takes for M to be true” Suppose I utter ‘It’s cold here’ (utterance U) In the classroom it’s cold Outside it’s warm I am in the classroom Consider U in A: “What it takes for it to be true” is … In sense 1 It’s cold in the classroom In sense 2It’s cold where U happens Situation ASituation B It’s warm in the classroom Outside it’s cold I am outside In sense 2:U in A describes B correctly In sense 1:It doesn’t

The Right Amount of Info test For any possible situation W, this should happen: If, intuitively, M represents W correctly, then P is the case in W. If, intuitively, M represents W incorrectly, then P is not the case in W. Suppose we claim that the content of M is: P Did we get the right proposition?

The Absolute view Consider a subject S Take a memory experience M that S would express by uttering “I remember that q” Let t2 be the time at which S has M. Then, there is some time/period of time t1 before t2 such that: q happens at t1 The content of M is:

Trouble with RAI In W2: Intuitively: It does not Absolutist:Your experience correctly represents W2 q happens at t1 & you don’t exist In W1: q happens at t1 & you witness it At t2, you have a memory experience that you would express with “ I remember that q ” Too little info to account for temporal awareness

The Relative view Consider a subject S Take a memory experience M that she would express by uttering “I remember that q” There is some time / period of time T such that q happens T-earlier than M The content of M is:  It sheds some light on temporal awareness  It deals with the W2 case

Trouble with RAI In W3: Intuitively:M in W1 correctly represents W3 Relativist:It does not q happens at t1 & you witness it you travel back in time earlier than t1 & have M In W1: q happens at t1 & you witness it At t2, you have a memory experience M that you would express with “ I remember that q ”

Causal self-reference view Consider a subject S. If M is a memory experience that S would express by uttering “I remember that q”, then M was caused by P, which was caused by q there is a perceptual experience P that S would express by uttering “I perceive that q” such that The content of M is:

Some virtues of CSR It deals with the W2 case M in W1 turns out to represent W2 incorrectly It deals with the W3 case M in W1 turns out to represent W3 correctly (In W2, M is not caused by anything.) (In W3, M is caused by a perceptual experience of q which is caused by q.)

Trouble with RAI In W4: Intuitively: It does not 1. P is not typically caused by q being the case 2. But q does cause P on this occasion CSR: M in W1 correctly represents W4 3. P causes M W1 W4 PPP M M

The veridical view Consider a subject S. Take a memory experience M that she would express by uttering “I remember that q”. M is caused by P, which is veridical There is a perceptual experience P that S would express by uttering “I perceive that q” such that the content of M is:

Virtues of the veridical view It deals with W2 M in W1 turns out to represent W2 incorrectly It deals with W3 M in W1 turns out to correctly represent W3 It deals with W4 M in W1 turns out to represent W4 incorrectly

Temporal Awareness You apparently remember that q by being in cognitive contact with the causal history of your memory In memory, remembered events are presented to us as being in the Past It is (presumably) nomologically necessary: Events in the causal history of your memory are in the past Temporal Awareness is the experience of events that, as a matter of natural law, are in the past But it is not the experience of time. It’s awareness of origin or causal history