ABSTRACT
The first person in the Western canon to do serious philosophy about memory is Plato. In his works, Plato develops three separate main themes about memory. The first is memory as knowledge-over-time. The second theme starts from the famous discussions of recollection in the Meno and the Phaedo. For the third theme, the locus classicus is Plato's images of the Wax Block and the Aviary in the Theaetetus. The first theme, deducible from numerous remarks scattered through Plato's works, boils down to a relatively obvious thought. For an ancient Greek whose ear is as sensitive as Plato's was to the nuances and history of words, there must have been manifold etymological temptation to find something deep and essential about connections between memory, understanding, and knowledge. In the Phaedo Socrates is awaiting execution, and his friends' and followers' confidence in their customary views is shaken.
