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    The Humean version of the Representational Theory of Memo... — Carmelics
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    The Humean version of the Representational Theory of Memory (RTM) should be rejected.

    Consciousness & Mind
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Hume's theory reduces memory to faint copies of impressions, but this cannot distinguish genuine recall from mere imagination of past events.
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    • 2.Without a causal-historical link to the original experience, no purely intrinsic feature like 'vivacity' can ground the distinction between remembering and imagining.
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    • 3.Martin and Deutscher's causal theory shows that what makes a mental state a memory is its appropriate causal origin, not any phenomenal property Hume can invoke.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The Humean RTM cannot account for the temporal content of memory—the felt sense that one is recalling a past event rather than merely representing it.
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    • 2.Tulving's concept of episodic memory as 'mental time travel' requires autonoetic consciousness, a first-person temporal indexing that purely representational content cannot supply.
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    • 3.A theory that cannot explain why memory presents its content as past-directed fails to capture the defining phenomenological and cognitive character of remembering.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The Humean RTM presupposes a more robust variety of memory than it can allow for.
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    • 2.The Humean RTM fails to shed light on the nature of memory because it presupposes what it cannot account for.
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    • 3.The Humean RTM is satisfied by many things that are not memory.
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    Personal IdentityConsciousness & Mind

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    Truth & Knowledge2 linkedSkepticism2 linked

    Related

    A theory that cannot explain why memory presents its content as past-directed fa...Hume's theory reduces memory to faint copies of impressions, but this cannot dis...Martin and Deutscher's causal theory shows that what makes a mental state a memo...The Humean RTM cannot account for the temporal content of memory—the felt sense ...
    +6 moreShow less
    The Humean RTM fails to shed light on the nature of memory because it presuppose...The Humean RTM is satisfied by many things that are not memory.The Humean RTM leads to skepticism about the past.The Humean RTM presupposes a more robust variety of memory than it can allow for...

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    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: memory-episprob
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    In sum, then, Reid argues that the both Lockean and Humean versions of RTM fail because (a) they presuppose a more robust variety of memory than they can allow for, (b) they fail to shed light on the nature of memory because of (a), (c) the accounts they do offer are satisfied by many things that aren't memory, and (d) finally, they lead to skepticism about the past. Each of these points is well-taken and taken together seem more than adequate reason for rejecting Locke's and Hume's accounts of
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Tulving's concept of episodic memory as 'mental time travel' requires autonoetic...
    Without a causal-historical link to the original experience, no purely intrinsic...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit