John and Ken kick off the show by noticing that there is a long tradition in philosophy of exploring the connection between memory and the self. Locke, for example, posited that what makes someone the same person yesterday is that they canremember他们昨天做了什么。肯想知道洛克是否遗漏了什么。Locke might merely tell us what the self does rather than what it is.John retorts that this way of thinking makes it seem as if the self we’re looking for is some mysterious inner agent. Rather, my self is just me. Having capacity to form “I-thoughts” is all it takes to have a self.

斯坦被邀请参加讨论。他既不支持那种认为存在某种神秘的内在自我的观点，也不支持那种“我的自我就是我自己”的紧缩观点。对自我的主观感知是理解记忆内容的必要条件，但也有科学上可量化的客观方面。不存在单一的、简单的、统一的自我——大脑中没有我们希望发现自我所在的位置。

John, Ken, and Stan then dig into the nature of the relationship between memory and self. Contra Locke, Stan argues that memory and self can come apart. In schizophrenia and other dementias, someone can have memories but not take them to be their own. On the other hand, Alzheimer’s patients without much remaining memory for events can still have a conviction that Alzheimer’s is happening tothem. Spurred by audience questions, our hosts and guest go on to discuss the differences between kinds of memory and how we can understand memory as a function of social evolution.

Stan wraps up the show through a more general reflection on the relationship between philosophy and psychology. He considers them to be siblings who have grown too far apart. On one hand, it’s important to naturalize philosophy by reigning in conceptual possibility with empirical possibility, but on the other, psychologists need to use philosophy to ensure they study concepts rather than mere tasks. The study of memory is a perfect example of an area where philosophy and psychology need to work together to achieve satisfying results.

• Roving Philosophical Reporter(Seek to 6:04): Filmmaker Banker White discussesThe Genius of Marian, his upcoming film which documents his mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s.
• 60-Second Philosopher(Seek to 50:26): Ian Shoales fires off examples of memory in pop culture, from Memento to the Bourne Identity. He then comments on phenomena like selective and cultural amnesia.