The Structure of Episodic Memory: Ganeri's ‘Mental Time Travel and Attention’

We offer a framework for assessing what the structure of episodic memory might be, if one accepts a Buddhist denial of persisting or even momentary selves. Our paper is a response to Jonardon Ganeri's [2018 Ganeri, Jonardon. 2018. Mental Time Travel and Attention, Australian Philosophical Review 4/1: 353–73. [Google Scholar]] ‘Mental Time Travel and Attention’, and we focus on his exploration of Buddhaghosa's ideas about memory. In particular, we distinguish between memory perspectives on the past and memory relations that may or may not be successfully borne to the past. We also critically examine 3 ways of trying to cash out what is distinctive about episodic memory: (1) episodic memory as mental time travel, (2) episodic memory as reliving of the past, and (3) episodic memory as reflective attention to the past.