Time and Memory Issues in Philosophy and Psychology

Time and Memory throws new light on fundamental aspects of human cognition and consciousness by bringing together, for the first time, psychological and philosophical approaches dealing with the connection between the capacity to represent and think about time, and the capacity to recollect the past. Fifteen specially written essays offer insights into current theories of memory processes and of the mechanisms and cognitive abilities underlying temporal judgements, and draw out key issues concerning the phenomenology and epistemology of memory and its role in our understanding of time.

The capacity to represent and think about time, and the capacity to recollect the past are two of the most fundamental and least understood aspects of human cognition and consciousness. This book throws new light on central issues in the study of the mind by uniting, for the first time, psychological and philosophical approaches dealing with the connection between temporal representation and memory. Fifteen specially written essays by leading psychologists and philosophers investigate the way in which time is represented in memory, and the role memory plays in our ability to reason about time. They offer insights into current theories of memory processes and of the mechanisms and cognitive abilities underlying temporal judgements, and draw out fundamental issues concerning the phenomenology and epistemology of memory and our understanding of time. The chapters are arranged into four sections, each focused on one area of current research: I Keeping Track of Time, and Temporal Representation; II Memory, Awareness and the Past; III Memory and Experience; IV Knowledge and the Past: The Epistemology and Metaphysics of Time. A general introduction gives an overview of the topics discussed and makes explicit central themes which unify the different philosophical and psychological approaches.

1 - Internal Clocks and the Representation of Time
2 - Retrospective and Prospective Timing: Memory, Attention and Consciousness
3 - The Chronological Organisation of Memory
4 - 'Lost in a Sea of Time' : Time Parsing and Autism
5 - Memory Processes Underlying Humans' Chronological Sense of the Past
6 - Memory Demonstratives
7 - Aware and Unaware Memory: Does Unaware Memory Underlie Aware Memory?
8 - Is Memory Purely Preservative?
9 - Phenomenological Records and the Self-Memory System
10 - Out of the Past: Episodic Recall as Retained Acquaintance
11 - Attributing Episodic Memory to Animals and Children
12 - The Phenomonology of Episodic Recall
13 - Understanding the Past Tense
14 - Apperception and the Unreality of Tense
15 - Memories, Traces and the Significance of the Past