ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on areas of interdependence between memory and self-consciousness, primarily in the dimensions of epistemology and functional role. It clarifies the nature of autobiographical memories and judgments based on autobiographical memory. The chapter focuses on an important epistemic property of autobiographical memory judgments—their immunity to error through misidentification relative to the first-person pronoun. Understanding this property is particularly important for understanding the role of self-consciousness in memory. It explores the relation between autobiographical memory and autobiographical narrative, approaching the issue through a question posed by Bertrand Russell about the perceived pastness of autobiographical memory. Psychologists studying memory typically classify memories in terms of three basic distinctions. Philosophers have explored different ways subjects might have privileged access to the contents of their own minds. The chapter explores a rather different approach to the indicator of pastness.
