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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'fragments/reports' and 'Intro to Contemporary Epistemology'

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4 ideas

12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 4. Memory
If perception and memory are indirect, then two things stand between mind and reality [Dancy,J]
     Full Idea: If perception is indirect as well as memory, this means there are two direct objects of awareness between the remembering mind and the original object.
     From: Jonathan Dancy (Intro to Contemporary Epistemology [1985], 12.2)
Memories aren't directly about the past, because time-lags and illusions suggest representation [Dancy,J]
     Full Idea: Direct realism about memory believes the memory is the past. But the time-lag argument and various illusions are powerful here, suggesting indirect realism involving a memory image.
     From: Jonathan Dancy (Intro to Contemporary Epistemology [1985], 12.2)
Phenomenalism about memory denies the past, or reduces it to present experience [Dancy,J]
     Full Idea: Eliminative phenomenalism about memory holds that there is no such thing as the past, just certain present experiences; reductive phenomenalism holds that there is a past, but it is no more than a complex of those present experiences.
     From: Jonathan Dancy (Intro to Contemporary Epistemology [1985], 12.4)
I can remember plans about the future, and images aren't essential (2+3=5) [Dancy,J]
     Full Idea: Memory is not solely concerned with the past, let alone one's own past (I remember that I must be in London next week), and need not involve images (2+2=4).
     From: Jonathan Dancy (Intro to Contemporary Epistemology [1985], 12.3)
     A reaction: I can hardly remember the future, so I presume I am remembering my past commitment to go to London, even if I visualise the future with me in London. The non-necessity of images seems right. I can remember the Mona Lisa without a precise image.