Memory

References and further reading

	Aristotle (384–322) On Memory, in J. Barnes (ed.) The Complete Works of Aristotle, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984, 2 vols. (Thorough description of elementary forms of memory, and the development of the idea of a memory trace.)
	Augustine (ad 400) Confessions, trans. H. Chadwick, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991, Book 10. (Vivid portrayal of puzzles about time and recollection, in the confessional mode. Clearly written, easy-to-medium difficulty.)
	Derrida, J. (1986) Memoires for Paul de Man, New York: Columbia, lectures 1 and 2. (Lectures delivered on the death of Paul de Man. Evocative and moving study of images and concepts of memory, and the relation of mourning to memory.)
	Deutscher, M. (1989) ‘Remembering “Remembering”’, in J. Heil (ed.) Cause, Mind and Reality, Dordrecht: Kluwer. (Analyses notions of representation, widens the range of forms of memory, contextualizes the idea of a memory trace.)
	Hume, D. (1739) A Treatise on Human Nature, any edition, Part III, particularly sections 5 and 6, and Part IV. (Classic statement of the image theory of memory, and of attendant sceptical problems. Very clear, medium difficulty.)
	Husserl, E. (1954) Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology, trans. D. Carr, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1970, Part II, sections 24–5 and Part III, sections 51–54. (Analyses the pitfalls in Hume’s scepticism, the continuity of experience described in terms of detachment (transcendence) and of bodily involvement (sedimentation). Complex, difficult, rewarding.)
	Krell, D. (1990) Of Memory, Reminiscence and Writing, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. (Close, brilliant study of literary phenomenological, deconstructive and scientific sources of ideas of memory. Valuable bibliography.)
	Locke, J. (1690) Essay on Human Understanding, Bk II, chs 10, 14, 27. (Ideas of memory as an idea or image, as a storehouse, as a condition for personal identity. Clear and thoughtful. Medium difficulty.)
	Martin, C. and Deutscher, M. (1966) ‘“Remembering”’, Philosophical Review LXXV 2: 161–196. (Describes wide variety of forms of memory, influential in re-establishing the idea of memory as including an information carrying trace, causally linking past with present.)
	Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945) Phenomenology of Perception, trans. C. Smith, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962, Part I, section 6, Part III, section 2. (The body rather than the mind as centre of experience; analyses metaphors of the flow of time, and the intimate involvement of the present in describing the past. Medium difficulty, evocative, sometimes poetic prose.)
	Plato (c.428–348) Phaedo, trans. D. Gallop, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. (The theory of knowledge as recollection. Easy to medium difficulty.)
	Plato (c.428–348) Theaetetus, trans. M.J. Levett, revised M. Burnyeat, Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1990. (Explanation and criticism of the idea of memory as a trace. Medium to difficult.)
	Ryle, G. (1949) The Concept of Mind, London: Hutchinson, chs 6 and 8. (Explains the elusive character of the self, and of the present in terms of token reflexive expressions. Describes similarities between imagination and memory, and attacks the image theory of memory. Easy to medium difficulty.)
	Squires, R. (1969) ‘Memory Unchained’, Philosophical Review LXXVIII: 178–196. (Witty attack on the idea of memory as involving a causal connection or trace.)