Memory Re-Chained

Abstract

In his ably-argued and provocative paper “Memory unchained” (Philosophical Review, April 1969), Mr Roger Squires attempts to refute what I shall term a causal theory of memory, and he provides an alternative account. He uses analogies of the kind, “a sack of grain in the granary in January is not operative in producing the same bag of grain in the granary for the rest of the year” (p. 196); rather, the sack exists now, in August, because it has existed all along. So likewise, he argues, if I remember a visit to the University of Tbilisi five years ago (the example is mine) — a visit, events in which are still fresh in my memory — my recollection is to be explained, not by some supposed causal linkage between then and now, but rather by my retaining, over the five years, a certain ability.