Defending functionalism and self-reference in memory
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.n64a12Keywords:
memory, functionalism, phenomenology, immunity to error through misidentificationAbstract
In recent work, Sarah Robins, Gerardo Viera and Steven James have provided some insightful objections to the ideas offered in my book, Memory: A Self-Referential Account. In this paper, I put forward some responses to those objections. Robins challenges the idea that being a memory could be a matter of having a particular functional role within the subject’s cognitive economy. Viera challenges the idea that the content of a memory could explain some of its phenomenological properties. And James challenges the idea that our memories could be immune to error through misidentification. All three commentators are targeting, not tangential aspects of, but fundamental assumptions in the account of memory proposed in the book. For that reason, modifying some of those assumptions would amount to proposing a whole different account of memory. I hope to show, however, that such a radical move is not necessary. For there are possible responses to the objections from all three commentators which are available within the constraints of the account proposed in the book.
Downloads
References
Fernández, J. (2007). Memory and time. Philosophical Studies, 141, 333-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-007-9177-x
Fernández, J. (2019). Memory: A Self-Referential Account. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190073008.001.0001
James, S. (2021). Immunity to error through misidentification and the functionalist, self- reflexive account of episodic memory. Estudios de Filosofía, 64, 189-200. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.n64a10
Robins, S. (2021). The failures of functionalism (for memory). Estudios de Filosofía, 64, 201-222. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.n64a11
Searle, J. (1983). Intentionality. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173452
Viera, G. (2021). Feeling the past: beyond causal content. Estudios de Filosofía, 64, 173-188. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.n64a09
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Jordi Fernández
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term "Work" shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher a nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoCommercia-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions: (a) Attribution: Other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;(b) Noncommercial: Other users (including Publisher) may not use this Work for commercial purposes;
4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal;
5. Authors are permitted, and Estudios de Filosofía promotes, to post online the preprint manuscript of the Work in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work is expected be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Estudios de Filosofía's assigned URL to the Article and its final published version in Estudios de Filosofía.
