Actualizing the past: a functional reconciliation of Bergson’s memory-image and analytic episodic memory

Abstract

This article examines the convergence between analytic philosophy of (episodic) memory and Bergson’s theory of memory (BTM). It argues that episodic memory, studied within cognitive science and analytic philosophy, shares a functional core with Bergson’s conception of memory-image. Despite theoretical differences between the two philosophical traditions, convergences can be achieved through the study of the function of conscious recollections we have of the past. I suggest that the result is a richer, integrative understanding of episodic remembering: memory is not merely a piece of information that is stored and retrieved but a dynamic personal and goal-oriented phenomenon in which the lived past continuously shapes present experience through the actualization of the memory.