The philosophy of memory technologies

Metaphysics, knowledge, and values

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12905352
AutoresRichard Heersmink (0000-0002-0102-0308, Macquarie University, autor de correspondencia), J Adam Carter (0000-0002-1222-8331, University of Glasgow)
Año2017
Volumen13
Número4
Páginas416-433
Fecha de publicación2017-09-13
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMemory Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1750-6980 • E-ISSN: 1750-6999
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1750698017703810
OpenAlexW2606154715
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas80

Memory technologies are cultural artifacts that scaffold, transform, and are interwoven with human biological memory systems. The goal of this article is to provide a systematic and integrative survey of their philosophical dimensions, including their metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical dimensions, drawing together debates across the humanities, cognitive sciences, and social sciences. Metaphysical dimensions of memory technologies include their function, the nature of their informational properties, ways of classifying them, and their ontological status. Epistemological dimensions include the truth-conduciveness of external memory, the conditions under which external memory counts as knowledge, and the metacognitive monitoring of external memory processes. Finally, ethical and normative dimensions include the desirability of the effects memory technologies have on biological memory, their effects on self and culture, and their moral status. While the focus in the article is largely philosophical and conceptual, empirical issues such as the way we interact with memory technologies in various contexts are also discussed. We thus take a naturalistic approach in which philosophical and empirical concepts and approaches are seen as continuous

Cognition · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Function (biology · Metacognition · Metaphysics · Normative · Sociology · Computer Science · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy · Psychology