In this chapter, the focus switches from perception to memory. I shall argue that the sort of principles which emerged in the discussion of perception also apply to the case of memory. More precisely, I shall argue that precise analogues of the principles P1–P4 occur for at least some memory processes. Consequently, at least some memory processes can be understood not as purely internal processes, but as a series of interactions between a remembering organism and its environment. For at least some memory processes, that is, there is no respectable theoretical reason for regarding them as purely internal processes. On the contrary, although not all forms of remembering necessarily involve interactions between organisms and environments, none the less the type of memory peculiar to modern human beings is typically made up of both internal and external processes, and, hence, the cognitive structures responsible for this type of memory are essentially environment-involving.

THE MODEL

The model of memory defended in this chapter closely parallels the model of visual perception defended in the previous one. Crucial to this model are (i) the existence of an external or environmental structure which carries information, and (ii) the ability of the cognizing organism to appropriate and make use of this information by way of suitable manipulation of this structure. In the case of visual perception, the environmental structure in question was the optic array, and this array was manipulated by means of various types of action on the part of the perceiving organism.