Rethinking Memory and Imagination
A Philosophical and Neuroscientific Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2025iss28.4790Keywords:
episodic memory, Imagination, neuroscience of memory, memory reconsolidation, multiple trace theory simulationism, causal theory of memoryAbstract
Can we distinguish memory from imagination? The contemporary constructive view of memory, which replaced the archival view, has been the dominant perspective for the last thirty years. However, while it is widely accepted that episodic memory is constructive, there is no consensus on the extent to which episodic remembering is factive or constructed and how it aligns with imagining. The current debate centers on the (dis)continuity between episodic remembering and imagining—specifically, whether episodic remembering must preserve some causal connection to past episodes through a memory trace (engram) or if it can be fully constructed. This debate continues the longstanding philosophical challenges of distinguishing memory from imagination.
The article connects historical philosophical discussions on the distinctions between memory and imagination with the current debate on whether they are of the same kind. It begins by examining the criteria philosophers have used to differentiate memory from imagination, tracing the discussion from Hume to contemporary debates. The second part explores how cognitive psychology and neurobiology have initiated a new discussion on memory formation, arguing that recent neuroscientific research supports the constructive theory of memory and aligns with the continuum approach, suggesting that memory and imagination are of the same kind.
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