Memory and its offspring: Realism and the “specious present”

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-192
Author(s):  
Terence McMullen
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Specious Present ◽  
Temporal Duration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Metaphysics Of Time ◽  
Direct Apprehension

Without memory we could not recall events, nor could we imagine, image, or expect things. Representationist accounts of memory claim that to remember is to access stored representations of past events. This is logically impossible: there are no such things as mental representations. Memory is the direct apprehension of past events. Some assert that this claim involves the temporal absurdity of supposing that the past can be known directly in the present. There is no such absurdity: cognition and its objects have temporal duration as well as spatial location. Situations perceived and remembered are extended temporally as well as spatially. William James drew attention to the specious present, the belief that we live in a temporally unextended now. A solid ontological account of the metaphysics of time and space is provided uniquely in the empiricist metaphysics of John Anderson’s realism.

Temporal Experience

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenann Ismael
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Temporal Experience ◽  
Specious Present ◽  
The Past ◽  
Its Analysis ◽  
Temporal Structures ◽  
Metaphysics Of Time

This chapter begins its analysis with a careful look at the specious present and then surveys many of the psychological temporal structures that arise in creatures like us. It also examines memory, anticipation, and the building up of our experience through time, focusing especially on the contrast between time from an “embedded” perspective and time from an external perspective. The chapter ends with some suggestions for how this work may link to one's conception of the self and also the metaphysics of time. In particular, it claims that the apparent fixity of the past emerges from the adoption of the “embedded” perspective it describes.

scholarly journals “A compressed representation of spatial distance in the rodent hippocampus’’

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Sheehan ◽  
Stephen Charczynski ◽  
Blake A. Fordyce ◽  
Michael E. Hasselmo ◽  
Marc W. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Location ◽  
Place Cells ◽  
Spatial Distance ◽  
Spatial Relationships ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Starting Location ◽  
Stimulus Offset ◽  
Representation Of Time

AbstractPrincipal cells in the rodent hippocampus often fire in response to traversal through a specific spatial location (place cells), as well as elapsed time during an imposed temporal delay or after stimulus offset (time cells). Sequences of time cells unfold rapidly at first, with many time cells with narrow time fields. As the triggering event recedes into the past, time cells are fewer and have broader fields. This means that the representation of time in the hippocampus is compressed with greater resolution for time points near the present. Using tetrode recordings we measured individual CA1 units while rats traveled along a track that could be changed in length. Consistent with previous results, most place cells coded for distance from the starting point of the trajectory. Critically, place cells became less numerous and showed gradually widening fields with distance from the starting location. These results suggest that as the animal leaves a landmark, the hippocampal place code forms a compressed representation of distance from the starting location. The representation of time and space in the hippocampus have similar properties suggesting that they arise from similar computational mechanisms.Significance StatementThe hippocampus represents relationships between events in time and space. It has been hypothesized that temporal and spatial relationships are the result of a common computational mechanism. Previous work has shown that the representation of time in the hippocampus is compressed, with less neural resolution for more temporally remote events, consistent with the observation that temporal memory is worse for events further in the past. This paper shows an analogous result for spatial relationships. Place cells coded for distance from the start of a journey. As distance increased, place fields became broader and less numerous, showing a decrease in spatial resolution. This result suggests a unified coding scheme for the dimensions of time and space in the rodent hippocampus.

The Unreality of Time: A Critical Analysis

Ensemble ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Sadiya Afrin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
External World ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Absolute Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Experience Of Time ◽  
The Future ◽  
Metaphysics Of Time ◽  
Zeno's Paradox

The problem of the metaphysics of time is whether the time is real or unreal. This paper will introduce some of the major positions and arguments concerning the unreality of time. We all know the external world is constantly changing. ‘Change is the only constant in life’. We get trapped in the illusion of time and space. But in reality, the past isn’t here anymore, the future yet to be seen, only the present moment seems to be real. But present time also flies or passes away very rapidly. Whenever we try to grasp it, it slips away. Before discussing the unreality of time, it is necessary to mention that we will deal with the ‘experience of time’ in this chapter. The mathematical or physicist concept of absolute time would not be discussed here. Firstly, ‘Motion is impossible’ would be discussed from Zeno’s paradox, followed by an effort to connect it with McTaggert’s argument on ‘Unreality of Time’. Then presentism and eternalism would be discussed in reference to the unreality of time.

Disciplining Polenta: A Parody on the Politics of Saving Food

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Zachary Nowak ◽  
Bradley M. Jones ◽  
Elisa Ascione
Keyword(s):  
Food Products ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Traditional Food ◽  
Traditional Foods ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Identity Creation ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social

This article begins with a parody, a fictitious set of regulations for the production of “traditional” Italian polenta. Through analysis of primary and secondary historical sources we then discuss the various meanings of which polenta has been the bearer through time and space in order to emphasize the mutability of the modes of preparation, ingredients, and the social value of traditional food products. Finally, we situate polenta within its broader cultural, political, and economic contexts, underlining the uses and abuses of rendering foods as traditional—a process always incomplete, often contested, never organic. In stirring up the past and present of polenta and placing it within both the projects of Italian identity creation and the broader scholarly literature on culinary tradition and taste, we emphasize that for so-called traditional foods to be saved, they must be continually reinvented.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
First Century ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
Metaphysics Of Time ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Impact

This Conclusion draws the study to a close, and recounts its developmental theses. The first thesis is that the complexity of positions on time (and space) defended in early modern thought is hugely under-appreciated. An enormous variety of positions were defended during this period, going far beyond the well-known absolutism–relationism debate. The second thesis is that during this period three distinct kinds of absolutism can be found in British philosophy: Morean, Gassendist, and Newtonian. The chapter concludes with a few notes on the impact of absolutism within and beyond philosophy: on twenty-first-century metaphysics of time; and on art, geology, and philosophical theology.

The Sea Fight Tomorrow

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensions ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Metaphysics Of Time ◽  
Manifold Theory ◽  
Dimensions Of Space

This chapter is the first of this book to deal specifically with the metaphysics of time. This chapter defends the pure manifold theory of time. On this view, time is just another dimension of extent like the three dimensions of space, the past, present, and future are equally real, and the world is at bottom tenseless. What is true is eternally true. For example, it is now true that there will be a sea fight tomorrow or that there will not be a sea fight tomorrow. It is argued that the pure manifold theory does not entail fatalism and that contingent statements about the future do not imply that only the past and present exist.

scholarly journals Hepatitis and tuberculosis testing are much less common than HIV testing among adults in Kisumu, Kenya: results from a cross-sectional assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Tunnage ◽  
Adam Yates ◽  
Chiaka Nwoga ◽  
Valentine Sing’oei ◽  
John Owuoth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Education ◽  
Viral Hepatitis ◽  
Hiv Testing ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Tuberculosis Screening ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Past ◽  
Prior Testing ◽  
Testing Uptake ◽  
One Year

Abstract Background Kenya has a high burden of HIV, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis. Screening is necessary for early diagnosis and treatment, which reduces morbidity and mortality across all three illnesses. We evaluated testing uptake for HIV, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis in Kisumu, Kenya. Methods Cross-sectional data from adults aged 18–35 years who enrolled in a prospective HIV incidence cohort study from February 2017 to May 2018 were analyzed. A questionnaire was administered to each participant at screening for study eligibility to collect behavioral characteristics and to assess prior testing practices. Among participants without a history of previously-diagnosed HIV, multivariable robust Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for factors potentially associated with HIV testing in the 12 months prior to enrollment. A hierarchical model was used to test for differential access to testing due to spatial location. Results Of 671 participants, 52 (7.7%) were living with HIV, 308 (45.9%) were female, and the median age was 24 (interquartile range 21–28) years. Among 651 (97.0%) who had ever been tested for HIV, 400 (61.2%) reported HIV testing in the past 6 months, 129 (19.7%) in the past 6–12 months, and 125 (19.1%) more than one year prior to enrollment. Any prior testing for viral hepatitis was reported by 8 (1.2%) participants and for tuberculosis by 51 (7.6%). In unadjusted models, HIV testing in the past year was more common among females (PR 1.08 [95% CI 1.01, 1.17]) and participants with secondary education or higher (PR 1.10 [95% CI 1.02, 1.19]). In the multivariable model, only secondary education or higher was associated with recent HIV testing (adjusted PR 1.10 [95% CI 1.02, 1.20]). Hierarchical models showed no geographic differences in HIV testing across Kisumu subcounties. Conclusions Prior HIV testing was common among study participants and most had been tested within the past year but testing for tuberculosis and viral hepatitis was far less common. HIV testing gaps exist for males and those with lower levels of education. HIV testing infrastructure could be leveraged to increase access to testing for other endemic infectious diseases.

Time and space problems in the text of epos

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (11) ◽  
pp. 143-146
Author(s):  
Parvana Ismayil Pashayeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Time Pass ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Physical Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Time Changes

The article deals with the problems of introducing of time, time changes and the time-place relations as well. Artistic time is distinguished by belonging of an artistic time to the past in the artistic text, and in epos texts as well. In such kinds of texts one can meet with the changing of situations and various forms of substitutions of grammatical time. Speech moment can be used in defining of criteria for the present, past and the future times in epos texts. And speech moment is being connected with the physical time. Grammatical time comes into effect as a result of time pass components of physical time changings of course. Key words: time, place, epos, artistic time, grammatical time

Understanding Memories of the Past in the Context of Different Complex Neural Network Architectures

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Clifford Bohm ◽  
Douglas Kirkpatrick ◽  
Arend Hintze
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Network Architectures ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Time Points ◽  
The Past ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Computational Systems

Abstract Deep learning (primarily using backpropagation) and neuroevolution are the preeminent methods of optimizing artificial neural networks. However, they often create black boxes that are as hard to understand as the natural brains they seek to mimic. Previous work has identified an information-theoretic tool, referred to as R, which allows us to quantify and identify mental representations in artificial cognitive systems. The use of such measures has allowed us to make previous black boxes more transparent. Here we extend R to not only identify where complex computational systems store memory about their environment but also to differentiate between different time points in the past. We show how this extended measure can identify the location of memory related to past experiences in neural networks optimized by deep learning as well as a genetic algorithm.

scholarly journals THE PECULIARITIES OF REPRESENTATION OF TIME ANS SPACE MODEL IN THE COLLECTION OF STORIES «WESSEX TALES» BY T.HARDY

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10(78)) ◽  
pp. 167-170
Author(s):  
Olena Rosstalna
Keyword(s):  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Moral Choice ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Space Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
Space Organization ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Local Image ◽  
Representation Of Time

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the representation of time and space model in the collection of short stories «Wessex Tales» by the English writer T.Hardy. Based on a contextual analysis of T. Hardy’s stories, time and space model was singled out as the dominant meaning for the creation of «Wessex Tales». It is proved that the category of time in «Wessex Tales» is a component of the composition of works (in some stories the principle of framing is used). Its functioning in the collection occurs in the form of a two-component model, the elements of which are past and present. It is determined that the specific presentation of the past is a combination of «collective» and «individual» time. While presenting individual facts in the lives of specific heroes in the form of «individual» time, the author introduces them into the context of events of community life in the form of «collective» time. Each individual character’s story thus becomes a part of panoramic depiction of Wessex world, while maintaining a connection with real historical events. «Quasi-historicity» is defined as one of the characteristic features of time. The interaction of temporal levels has also been investigated at the level of conflicts and problems in the writer’s stories and novels (the problem of responsibility for actions, the problem of moral choice, etc.). The peculiarity of space organization in the collection of stories is determined by multilevel (panoramic – local image; realistic – mythopoeticized sketches of the metaphorical plan; the existence of two subspaces in the mythologized model of the world) and multivariate. The article analyzes the closed and open, terrestrial and cosmic, real and imaginary spaces that are realized in the system of images (city, town, house, road, etc.).

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