There are two distinct questions to be asked: (1) What causes us to say
that a thing occurs? (2) What are we feeling when we say this? As to the
first question, in the crude use of the word, which is what concerns us,
memory-images would not be said to occur; they would not be noticed
in themselves, but merely used as signs of the past event. Images are
"merely imaginary"; they have not, in crude thought, the sort of reality
that belongs to outside bodies. Roughly speaking, "real" things would
be those that can cause sensations, those that have correlations of the
sort that constitute physical objects. A thing is said to be "real"
or to "occur" when it fits into a context of such correlations. The
prototype of our memory-image did fit into a physical context, while
our memory-image does not. This causes us to feel that the prototype was
"real," while the image is "imaginary."
But the answer to our second question, namely as to what we are feeling
when we say a thing "occurs" or is "real," must be somewhat different.
We do not, unless we are unusually reflective, think about the presence
or absence of correlations: we merely have different feelings which,
intellectualized, may be represented as expectations of the presence
or absence of correlations. A thing which "feels real" inspires us with
hopes or fears, expectations or curiosities, which are wholly absent
when a thing "feels imaginary." The feeling of reality is a feeling akin
to respect: it belongs PRIMARILY to whatever can do things to us without
our voluntary co-operation. This feeling of reality, related to
the memory-image, and referred to the past by the specific kind of
belief-feeling that is characteristic of memory, seems to be what
constitutes the act of remembering in its pure form.
We may now summarize our analysis of pure memory.
Memory demands (a) an image, (b) a belief in past existence. The belief
may be expressed in the words "this existed."
The belief, like every other, may be analysed into (1) the believing,
(2) what is believed. The believing is a specific feeling or sensation
or complex of sensations, different from expectation or bare assent in
a way that makes the belief refer to the past; the reference to the
past lies in the belief-feeling, not in the content believed. There is
a relation between the belief-feeling and the content, making the
belief-feeling refer to the content, and expressed by saying that the
content is what is believed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account