1. Memory and temporal awareness Jordi Fernández Macquarie University

2. 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

3. 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.

4. “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

5. 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?

6. 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:

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 ”

10. 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:

11. 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.)

12. 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

13. 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:

14. 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

15. 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