ABSTRACT
Memory traces feature in nearly every account of memory. They appear as birds in Plato's aviaries and images in Locke's storeroom of ideas, as well as grooves in phonographic records, pictures in a gallery, and textual and digital archives in the vast library of the mind. This chapter provides a survey of views about the nature and features of memory traces. It introduces four distinct arguments for the necessity of memory traces and the challenges that each account faces. It surveys the range of answers offered to a set of standard questions about memory traces. Although the appeal to memory traces is nearly universal in theorizing about memory, there are many distinct reasons why the appeal is made. The chapter introduces four of the most prominent argumentative strategies used to establish the necessity of memory traces. It sketches the general argument for memory traces and then identifies a few of its characteristic proponents.
