Causation in memory: necessity, reliability and probability

• Autor(a) principal: Andonovski, Nikola
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Acta Scientiarum. Human and Social Sciences (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://www.periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/ActaSciHumanSocSci/article/view/61493
• topic: Memory; causation; reliability; probability; Reichenbach common cause principle.; Memory; causation; reliability; probability; Reichenbach common cause principle.

In this paper, I argue that causal theories of memory are typically committed to two independent, non-mutually entailing theses. The first thesis pertains to the necessity of appropriate causation in memory, specifying a condition token memories need to satisfy. The second pertains to the explanation of memory reliability in causal terms, and it concerns memory as a type of mental state. Post-causal theories of memory can reject only the first (weak post-causalism) or both (strong post-causalism) theses. Upon this backdrop, I examine Werning’s (2020) causalist argument from probabilistic correlation. I argue that it doesn’t establish the necessity of appropriate causation, and thus it can only target strong post-causalist theories. I end up by presenting some general considerations, suggesting that memories may not always be causally linked to past experiences.