Blackwell Reference Online

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The epistemology of memory and the metaphysics of memory are tightly related. The latter offers an account of the nature of memory while the former examines the conditions under which memory is conducive to justified belief and knowledge. Both the metaphysics and the epistemology of memory are distinct from (although certainly not entirely unrelated to) the psychology of memory. Research in the psychology of memory is aimed at exploring the way memory actually functions, the way memory is realized in neurophysiological states, the circumstances and conditions in which memory is reliable or unreliable, etc. While all of this is of obvious importance and arguable relevance to the philosophical enterprises mentioned above, it is nevertheless distinct. The metaphysics of memory, concerned with giving a characterization of memory at a more general and abstract level, aims at identifying the nature of memory regardless of its particular physical implementation. The epistemology of memory, on the other hand, will benefit from information about the circumstances under which memory is reliable (or not), but such information alone will not answer key normative questions like under what conditions is a memory belief justified and when, if ever, can it count as knowledge. What, then, is memory? The most obvious answer is that memory is a psychological process that stores information so that ... log in or subscribe to read full text