Memory and nostalgia
Imagination
idea
Aphantasia can be a gift to philosophers and critics like me
Aphantasia veils the past and the future from the mind’s eye. That can be a gift to philosophers like Derek Parfit and me
by Mette Leonard Høeg
The self
idea
Memory involves the whole body. It’s how the self defies amnesia
People with anterograde amnesia can’t rely on memory alone for their sense of self. Instead, they remember with their body
by Ben Platts-Mills
The self
idea
Sudden amnesia showed me the self is a convenient fiction
Sudden amnesia let me experience what Buddhists and philosophers have been saying all along about the existence of the self
by Steven Hales
Psychiatric medication
idea
Benzos calmed my anxiety, but my memory became a deep fog
With anxiety levels rising during the pandemic, a corresponding rush on benzodiazepine use could have a huge toll on memory
by Alex Smith
Forgiveness
idea
Must you forget to forgive? A scientist tests the relationship
Forgiveness is colloquially linked with fading memory – but research is probing what it really means to let go of wrongdoing
by Shayla Love
Altered states
idea
Déjà vu is just one of many uncanny kinds of déjà experiences
What can the many types of déjà experiences that most people have tell us about reality, memory and the gaps in between?
by Art Funkhouser
Thinkers and theories
idea
What Arthur Schopenhauer learned about genius at the asylum
‘Might not madness be a mere derangement of memory?’ What Arthur Schopenhauer learnt when he went into the asylum
by David Bather Woods
Stories and literature
idea
Time, like memory, is fickle: days wrap back on themselves
Time, like memory, is structurally fickle: days wrap back on themselves. The experience of it is hardly ever chronological
by Grace Linden
Death and dying
idea
Why ancient Mesopotamians buried their dead beneath the floor
In an age before photos or audio recordings, people found other ways to stay sensorially connected to their deceased
by Nicola Laneri
Memory and nostalgia
idea
In a journey through time I’ve seen the past imprinted on the present
Memory allows us to break free from chronological time, to extend ourselves beyond a single life to embrace earlier generations
by Vicky Grut
Memory and nostalgia
idea
You can feel nostalgia for things that you haven’t yet lost
Nostalgia is a longing for the past, but psychologists are coming to realise it can focus on the future too
by Shayla Love
The self
idea
What my mother’s sticky notes show about the nature of the self
Dementia accelerates a process we all experience, as our memories become increasingly externalised into the world around us
by Crispin Sartwell