ABSTRACT
Memory is a fundamental cognitive capacity and as such interacts with virtually all other basic cognitive capacities. This chapter provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. It covers highly general issues in everyday and scientific thinking about memory. The connection between memory and the self has long been appreciated, with memory providing one of the standard answers to the puzzle of personal identity. The chapter looks both at the traditional question of memory and personal identity and at the relationships between memory and self-consciousness and memory and narrativity. Social influences on individual memory and remembering as a social phenomenon are key themes of recent research on memory. The chapter also looks at a number of connections between memory and time, including memory and the concept of time, memory and the metaphysics of time, and the idea, prominent in current psychology and playing an increasing role in philosophy.
