Due to memory's significance in the construction of a stable internal identity from one moment to the next and in foundational epistemology, the relative lack of attention given to the philosophical aspects of memory might be puzzling to some. Connected with the epistemological nature of memory is the scope of memory, which pertains to how much information can fit within one's mind. A human mind can only focus on certain information at one time, but this does not mean that the total capacity of one's memory is finite.
Unlike the storage in memory cards for electronic devices, human memory is not necessarily confined to a fixed scope. There is not any evidence that it is impossible for a person to continually store more and more information in their memory, much less a way to logically prove such a thing. The vast depths of human memory might have no inherent limitations beyond those rooted in biology. It is vital to distinguish here between a hypothetical inherent limitation on memory, such as a memory being incapable of storing more than a certain amount of information by default, and biological limitations having to do with mind-body relationships.
The importance of the distinction becomes apparent when one considers the legitimate possibility that all disruptions and problems with memory reduce down to neurological issues. In other words, all problems related to memory would be caused by something outside of human consciousness. This would mean that the storage capacity of human memory itself is infinite, even though the confinement of the mind to the body still imposes restrictions on how much information (whether personal experiences or logical facts) could be preserved within a person's mind in a given period.
Memory, if the consequences of inhabiting a body with a nervous system governed by the laws of physics as they are were removed, could potentially be as vast as the space that holds matter: although matter might only exist in certain positions in space, space itself extends outward in all directions without end. In the same way, human memory might be without any intrinsic phenomenological boundary, although it is not completely filled. A given person would always experience a finite set of memories, but there would always be room to add more. This can neither be verified nor falsified, but it is a logical possibility that needs recognition.
One could easily contemplate the scope of memory after realizing that memory is omnipresent in one's experiences in the sense that there is no way to have coherent thoughts or sensory perceptions from one moment to the next without it. The very fact that one is not confused about everything other than one's immediate perceptions proves that one's memory is internally functional (though this does not prove that specific past events actually happened). Nonetheless, the exact scope of memory--an individual's memory or human memory as a whole--cannot be established by this fact. Even so, it is entirely possible that the capacity for the storage of memories is endless left to itself. The nature of human memory may differ quite drastically from that of memory cards.
The importance of the distinction becomes apparent when one considers the legitimate possibility that all disruptions and problems with memory reduce down to neurological issues. In other words, all problems related to memory would be caused by something outside of human consciousness. This would mean that the storage capacity of human memory itself is infinite, even though the confinement of the mind to the body still imposes restrictions on how much information (whether personal experiences or logical facts) could be preserved within a person's mind in a given period.
Memory, if the consequences of inhabiting a body with a nervous system governed by the laws of physics as they are were removed, could potentially be as vast as the space that holds matter: although matter might only exist in certain positions in space, space itself extends outward in all directions without end. In the same way, human memory might be without any intrinsic phenomenological boundary, although it is not completely filled. A given person would always experience a finite set of memories, but there would always be room to add more. This can neither be verified nor falsified, but it is a logical possibility that needs recognition.
One could easily contemplate the scope of memory after realizing that memory is omnipresent in one's experiences in the sense that there is no way to have coherent thoughts or sensory perceptions from one moment to the next without it. The very fact that one is not confused about everything other than one's immediate perceptions proves that one's memory is internally functional (though this does not prove that specific past events actually happened). Nonetheless, the exact scope of memory--an individual's memory or human memory as a whole--cannot be established by this fact. Even so, it is entirely possible that the capacity for the storage of memories is endless left to itself. The nature of human memory may differ quite drastically from that of memory cards.
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