The narrative self, distributed memory, and evocative objects

Philosophical Studies 175 (8):1829-1849 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this article, I outline various ways in which artifacts are interwoven with autobiographical memory systems and conceptualize what this implies for the self. I first sketch the narrative approach to the self, arguing that who we are as persons is essentially our (unfolding) life story, which, in turn, determines our present beliefs and desires, but also directs our future goals and actions. I then argue that our autobiographical memory is partly anchored in our embodied interactions with an ecology of artifacts in our environment. Lifelogs, photos, videos, journals, diaries, souvenirs, jewelry, books, works of art, and many other meaningful objects trigger and sometimes constitute emotionally-laden autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memory is thus distributed across embodied agents and various environmental structures. To defend this claim, I draw on and integrate distributed cognition theory and empirical research in human-technology interaction. Based on this, I conclude that the self is neither defined by psychological states realized by the brain nor by biological states realized by the organism, but should be seen as a distributed and relational construct.

Similar books and articles

Constructive memory and distributed cognition: Towards an interdisciplinary framework.John Sutton - 2003 - In B. Kokinov & W. Hirst (eds.), Constructive Memory. New Bulgarian University. pp. 290-303.
Is external memory memory? Biological memory and extended mind.Kourken Michaelian - 2012 - Consciousness and Cognition 21 (3):1154-1165.
Collaborative memory knowledge: A distributed reliabilist perspective.Kourken Michaelian & Santiago Arango-Munoz - 2018 - In M. Meade, C. B. Harris, P. van Bergen, J. Sutton & A. J. Barnier (eds.), Collaborative Remembering: Theories, Research, Applications. Oxford University Press. pp. 231-247.
Material Selves: Bodies, Memory, and Autobiographical Narrating.Sidonie A. Smith - 2003 - In Gary D. Fireman, Ted E. McVay Jr & Owen J. Flanagan (eds.), Narrative and Consciousness: Literature, Psychology, and the Brain. Oxford University Press. pp. 86-111.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-05-24

Downloads
3,007 (#2,216)

6 months
575 (#2,104)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Richard Heersmink
Tilburg University

Citations of this work

Varieties of the extended self.Richard Heersmink - 2020 - Consciousness and Cognition 85:103001.
The roots of remembering: Radically enactive recollecting.Daniel D. Hutto & Anco Peeters - 2018 - In Kourken Michaelian, Dorothea Debus & Denis Perrin (eds.), New Directions in the Philosophy of Memory. New York: Routledge. pp. 97-118.
What is an affective artifact? A further development in situated affectivity.Giulia Piredda - 2020 - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 19 (3):549-567.

View all 29 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

The extended mind.Andy Clark & David J. Chalmers - 1998 - Analysis 58 (1):7-19.
The Principles of Psychology.William James - 1890 - London, England: Dover Publications.
Phenomenology of perception.Maurice Merleau-Ponty - 1945 - Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: The Humanities Press. Edited by Donald A. Landes.
Phenomenology of Perception.Maurice Merleau-Ponty - 1945 - New York: Routledge. Edited by Donald A. Landes.
Phenomenology of Perception.Maurice Merleau-Ponty - 1962 - New York: Routledge. Edited by Donald A. Landes.

View all 66 references / Add more references