Professor Christoph Hoerl University of Warwick

Event details

Episodic memory, memories, and the pleasures of remembering

It is common in both philosophy and psychology to distinguish between different kinds of memory, in particular between episodic memory, on the one hand, and factual or semantic memory, on the other. In my talk, I want to consider a dimension of that difference that has received relatively little attention so far. This is the fact that, in the context of everyday talk about episodic memory, people often use ‘memory’ as a count noun, speaking of a memory or memories they have. I consider whether certain facts about the nature and workings of episodic memory itself, or a ‘naïve theory’ of memory people possess, can explain the prevalence of this kind of talk in connection with episodic memory. I then turn to an alternative explanation, which connects the fact that people treat episodic memories as countables with a distinctive, broadly ethical, role they play in their lives. This explanation draws on the idea that there is an important sense in which people treat episodic memories as assets.