Saskia Janina Neumann
Eötvös Lorand University
The importance of the justification of our beliefs is a long-debated question. The question of how our memory beliefs are justified, however, is a question Philosophers often deem as not worth considering. After all, there are bigger fish to fry. We can get to the details later!
In my opinion, the question of how our memory beliefs are justified, is a very big fish to fry as memory, a long neglected topic within Philosophy, does play a bigger role in justifying our beliefs than we would usually think of. I will argue for the view that most of our beliefs are memory beliefs and that we should therefore care about how they are justified. I will do so by seeking support from empirical evidence in Cognitive Science. Based on these findings, I will firstly argue for the relatively uncontroversial view that our past beliefs are memory beliefs. Secondly, I will also show how beliefs about the present are memory beliefs. Thirdly, and probably the most controversial part of my argumentation, I will claim that beliefs about the future are also memory beliefs.
If beliefs about what has been, about what is the case in the present and even about what will have been the case in the future are memory beliefs, reconsidering our strict focus on the justification of mere beliefs is more than appropriate. The justification of beliefs is a detail we can talk about later. The biggest fish to fry right now would be to solve the question of how memory beliefs are justified.
Chair: Natalia Tomash
Time: September 8th, 14:40-15:10
Location: SR 1.004
SOPhiA 2026 