Is episodic memory a natural kind? A Comment on Cheng and Werning's "What is episodic memory if it is a natural kind?" (2016). Andonovsky, N. Essays in Philosophy, 2018.
abstract   bibtex   
In a recent paper, Sen Cheng and Markus Werning argue that the class of episodic memories constitutes a natural kind. Endorsing the homeostatic property cluster view of natural kinds, they suggest that episodic memories can be characterized by a cluster of properties unified by an underlying neural mechanism for coding sequences of events. Here, I argue that Cheng and Werning's proposal faces some significant, and potentially insurmountable, difficulties. Two are described as most prominent. First, the proposal fails to satisfy an important normative constraint on natural kind theorizing, not providing the requisite theo- retical resources for arbitration between rival taxonomies of memory. Second, the proposal is in direct tension with a foundational principle of the HPC view: the rejection of essentialism. This has far-reaching consequences, which threaten to undermine the coherence of the proposal.
@article{Andonovski2018,
abstract = {In a recent paper, Sen Cheng and Markus Werning argue that the class of episodic memories constitutes a natural kind. Endorsing the homeostatic property cluster view of natural kinds, they suggest that episodic memories can be characterized by a cluster of properties unified by an underlying neural mechanism for coding sequences of events. Here, I argue that Cheng and Werning's proposal faces some significant, and potentially insurmountable, difficulties. Two are described as most prominent. First, the proposal fails to satisfy an important normative constraint on natural kind theorizing, not providing the requisite theo- retical resources for arbitration between rival taxonomies of memory. Second, the proposal is in direct tension with a foundational principle of the HPC view: the rejection of essentialism. This has far-reaching consequences, which threaten to undermine the coherence of the proposal.},
author = {Andonovsky, Nikola},
file = {:Users/michaelk/Library/Application Support/Mendeley Desktop/Downloaded//Andonovsky - 2016 - Is episodic memory a natural kind A Comment on Cheng and Werning's What is episodic memory if it is a natura(2016).pdf:pdf},
journal = {Essays in Philosophy},
title = {{Is episodic memory a natural kind? A Comment on Cheng and Werning's "What is episodic memory if it is a natural kind?" (2016)}},
volume = {19},
year = {2018}
}

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