The Justificatory Power of Memory Experience

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences 5 (2024)
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Abstract

Psychological research has discovered that episodic memories are constructive in nature. This paper examines how, despite being constructive, episodic memories can provide us with justification for beliefs about the past. In current literature, two major approaches to memorial justification are internalist foundationalism and reliabilism. I first demonstrate that an influential version of internalist foundationalism, dogmatism, encounters problems when we compare certain types of memory construction with cognitive penetration in perception. On the other hand, various versions of reliabilism all face skeptical challenges. I propose an alternative, two-factor theory that recognizes an epistemic distinction typically overlooked by dogmatism and reliabilism. Although our account leaves certain aspects unspecified, it is an important step forward.

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Lu Teng
New York University, Shanghai

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References found in this work

The Predictive Mind.Jakob Hohwy - 2013 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
The Language of Thought.J. A. Fodor - 1978 - Critica 10 (28):140-143.
The skeptic and the dogmatist.James Pryor - 2000 - Noûs 34 (4):517–549.

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