Single Idea 9067

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 4. Memory]

Full Idea

When it occurs often in connection with the same item, ..memories which are many in number form a single experience.

Gist of Idea

Many memories of the same item form a single experience

Source

Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 100a05)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Barnes,Jonathan [OUP 1993], p.73


A Reaction

This is Aristotle at his most empirical. He is not describing an operation of the understanding, but a process of association. The process he alludes to is at the heart of the abstractionist view of concept-formation.

Related Idea

Idea 11245 Many memories make up a single experience [Aristotle]