No autobiographical memory, no consciousness: a new theory of the subject of experience
yeastsplainer · x · 2026-09-27
Building on Locke's night/day man thought experiment, this philosophy article argues that a subject of experience (SOE) is fundamentally a structure of autobiographical memory, realized via episodic or working memory — and that "having" an experience consists in appending a new memory to the ongoing record. Variations like a "week-man" with seven isolated memory structures illustrate how distinct consciousnesses emerge from distinct memory organizations.
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