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Collective Memory: Metaphor or Real?
1Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam, 784028, India. premjit.laikh@gmail.com.
Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science
|March 24, 2022
Summary
This study challenges the view of collective memory as only a metaphor. By examining the externalist model of the mind, it argues that collective memory can be a literal, naturally existing phenomenon.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Philosophy of Mind
- Social Sciences
Background:
- Collective memory is often treated as a metaphor for group past representations.
- Few studies explore if collective memory is literal or metaphorical.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the claim that collective memory is merely a metaphor.
- To explore the possibility of collective memory existing literally.
Main Methods:
- Probing the presuppositions of the metaphorical view of collective memory.
- Appealing to the externalist model of the mind.
- Drawing on interdisciplinary studies in philosophy, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and collective intentionality.
Main Results:
- The representationalist theory of mind underpins the metaphorical view.
- Externalist models challenge the presuppositions of the metaphorical claim.
- This opens avenues for conceptualizing collective memory as literal.
Conclusions:
- Collective memory can be understood as a literal, naturally existing form of memory.
- The externalist model of the mind provides a framework for this literal interpretation.
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