Full Idea
On the causal view of time's arrow, memories pertain to the 'past' just because they are caused by the events of which they are memories.
Gist of Idea
We judge memories to be of the past because the events cause the memories
Source
Adrian Bardon (Brief History of the Philosophy of Time [2013], 5 'Causal')
Book Reference
Bardon,Adrian: 'Brief History of the Philosophy of Time' [OUP 2013], p.118
A Reaction
How am I able to distinguish imagining the future from remembering the past? How do I tell which mental events have external causes, and which are generated by me?
Related Ideas
Idea 22908 When one element contains the grounds of the other, the first one is prior in time [Leibniz]
Idea 2791 Phenomenalism about memory denies the past, or reduces it to present experience [Dancy,J]
Idea 22220 The phenomena of memory are given in the present, but as being past [Husserl, by Bernet]