On forgetting the historical past

In this paper, empirical data are presented related to memory and time perception. The data are the frequencies with which specific calendar years are cited in newspaper texts. When plotted, the curves produced by the time series of these frequencies turn out to be independent of the languages and cultures in which the texts have been written as well as the year and the year density of the text corpus. The frequency of a specific year is inversely proportional to the distance from that year to the year in which the texts were written. It is argued that these curves are forgetting curves. It is suggested that the curves might be explained in terms of the “cognitive distance” between past and present. An argument is presented based on the curve representing the frequencies with which future years are cited in newspaper texts.     

Explaining the forgetting bias effect on value judgments: The influence of memory for a past test

People often feel that information that was forgotten is less important than remembered information. Prior work has shown that participants assign higher importance to remembered information while undervaluing forgotten information. The current study examined two possible accounts of this finding. In three experiments, participants studied lists of words in which each word was randomly assigned a point value denoting the value of remembering the word. Following the presentation of each list participants engaged in a free recall test. After the presentation of all lists participants were shown each of the words they had studied and asked to recall the point value that was initially paired with each word. Experiment 1 tested a fluency-based account by presenting items for value judgments in a low-fluency or high-fluency format. Experiment 2 examined whether value judgments reflect attributions based on the familiarity of an item when value judgments are made. Finally, in Experiment 3, we evaluated whether participants believe that forgotten words are less important by having them judge whether an item was initially recalled or forgotten prior to making a value judgment. Manipulating the fluency of an item presented for judgment had no influence on value ratings (Experiment 1) and familiarity exerted a limited influence on value judgments (Experiment 2). More importantly, participants’ value judgments appeared to reflect a theory that remembered information is more valuable than forgotten information (Experiment 3). Overall, the present work suggests that individuals may apply a theory about remembering and forgetting to retrospectively assess the value of information.     

The sensitivity of judgment-of-learning resolution to past test performance,new learning,and forgetting

When people judge their learning of items across study–test trials, their accuracy in discriminating between learned and unlearned items improves on the second trial. We examined the source of this improvement by estimating the contribution of three factors—memory for past test performance (MPT), new learning, and forgetting—to accuracy on trial 2. In Experiment 1, during an initial trial, participants studied paired associates, made a judgment of learning (JOL) for each one, and were tested. During the second trial, we manipulated two variables: when the JOL was made (either immediately before or after studying an item) and whether participants were told the outcome of the initial recall attempt on trial 1. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was used with a 1-week retention interval between study and test on trial 2. In both experiments, JOL resolution was higher on trial 2 than on trial 1. Fine-grained analyses of JOL magnitude and decomposition of resolution supported several conclusions. First, MPT contributed the most to boosts in JOL magnitude and improvements in resolution across trials. Second, JOLs and subsequent resolution were sensitive to new learning and forgetting, but only when participants’ judgments were made after study. Thus, JOLs appear to integrate information from multiple factors, and these factors jointly contribute to JOL resolution.     

The relevance of Husserl today

Lecture given at the Annual meeting of the British Society for Phenomenology held at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, on 25 March 1988. The occasion was remembering Husserls passing away fifty years ago.     

The rejection of origin: Derrida's interpretation of Husserl

Conclusion Derrida's Husserl thinks of meaning as self-presence and of self-presence as transparent and complete presence of meaning to the mind. Expression and thought are but particular modes or media of the more englobing relation of a self-acquainted life. Reflection is the highest form and telos of the other forms of presence.In contrast, the — by no means complete — Husserl who has begun to appear in my interpretation does not unconditionally subscribe to the value of presence. Not only is an important part of intentional life directed towards objects which it does not possess in their plenitude — hence its emptiness —, this part of intentional life is also blind towards itself. Reflection tries to fill this gap by grasping what is not present to a life immersed in its world. But a retreat from life is the price of presence, a presence, in addition, whose power is essentially limited by the fluidity of its material and by the limits of its bearers.And yet Husserl maintains, passionately maintains, the claim and value of reflection and of a scientific attitude which Derrida rejects with equal passion. May they not have a positive function in a frame which is no longer that of presence metaphysics? As deconstruction has evolved its philosophy of anti-presence, it has brushed away the reflexive potential of Phenomenology and chosen to reject its own origin.     

The benefit of forgetting

Recent research using change-detection tasks has shown that a directed-forgetting cue, indicating that a subset of the information stored in memory can be forgotten, significantly benefits the other information stored in visual working memory. How do these directed-forgetting cues aid the memory representations that are retained? We addressed this question in the present study by using a recall paradigm to measure the nature of the retained memory representations. Our results demonstrated that a directed-forgetting cue leads to higher-fidelity representations of the remaining items and a lower probability of dropping these representations from memory. Next, we showed that this is made possible by the to-be-forgotten item being expelled from visual working memory following the cue, allowing maintenance mechanisms to be focused on only the items that remain in visual working memory. Thus, the present findings show that cues to forget benefit the remaining information in visual working memory by fundamentally improving their quality relative to conditions in which just as many items are encoded but no cue is provided.     

The vocation of motherhood: Husserl and feminist ethics

In this paper, I explore a confrontation between Husserl’s ethical position of vocation and its absolute ought with a feminist ethical position. I argue that Husserl’s ethics has a great deal to offer a feminist ethics by providing for the possibility of an ethics that is particular rather than universal, that recognizes the role of the social through tradition in establishing values and norms without conceding the ethical responsibility of the individual, and that acknowledges the role of both reason and desire in establishing moral values that has the consequence of breaking down the public/private distinction that has reigned in so many ethical theories. In order to make this case, I proceed with a review of Husserl’s position of the absolute ought, some typical criticisms that might be leveled at his position, and finally, responses to those criticisms that show ways in which Husserl’s position can be beneficial to the formulation of a feminist ethics that is inclusive of the emotional aspect of moral valuation, and the particularity of ethical commitments, while providing for a different way of evaluating thinking that accommodates what are usually understood to be “feminine” concerns. In addition to describing Husserl’s position, I show how that position meets some of the expectations for a feminist ethics as put forth by Iris Marion Young and Sara Ruddick.     

The Meaning of Being: Husserl on Existential Propositions as Predicative Propositions

Axiomathes - This essay examines how Husserl stretches the bounds of his philosophy of meaning, according to which all propositions are categorical, to account for existential propositions, which...     

另类胡塞尔——胡塞尔现象学的"标准化"和"非标准化"的解读

欧美学界一般认为,胡塞尔本人出版的著作代表了他的现象学思想。这种看法几乎成了解读胡塞尔现象学的标准。但是胡塞尔本人却一直把他的研究手稿看作其思想的主要代表。随着胡塞尔手稿在《胡塞尔全集》（Husserliana）中的陆续发表,欧美一批学者开始努力通过他们对手稿的批判性研究扭转这一局面。本文就是对“胡塞尔标准解读”的分析批评和对这一正在进行中的“非标准的”胡塞尔解读的阶段性总结。     

胡塞尔论近代科学的数学化

近代科学的一个重要特征是数学化,它大致由科学的几何化与几何的算术化两个方面组成,前者为近代科学提供了理念,后者则是实现这一理念的重要方法。这种数学化在近代大获成功的同时,也由于形式化和技艺化过程中所发生的意义的沉淀、变更和抽空而导致对其自身起源的遗忘。以严格科学为目标的胡塞尔现象学,正是试图通过对起源的追问来恢复对科学的整体理解。     

另类胡塞尔——胡塞尔现象学的"标准化"和"非标准化"的解读 (续)

9．问题三,胡塞尔悬置了标讣陛（indication）——如今我们称它为标示性（indexicality）。这是胡塞尔把符号的表达性维度分离出来,并且赋予优先地位,强化意义与指称之间的对立、甚至意识与世界之间的对立的必要步骤。既然表述行为这种现象为《逻辑研究》提供了可以通达主体性的本性的地点,胡塞尔就必然被导向关于思想（mind）的再当下化理论。在这种理论中,任何对世界的实际的因果关联的思考,     

胡塞尔论感知意识的视域结构

视域性是意识行为的一个本质特征。目前学界对感知意识之视域结构的研究主要集中于内视域和外视域。本文将依据新近出版的胡塞尔著作,结合新近有关"弱想象"的研究成果,力图呈现一幅关于感知视域的更全面的图景。本文第一部分将展示感知意识视域结构和功能的基础:滞留和前摄;第二部分分析由感知的本质构成要素"动感"所构成的身体权能的视域,胡塞尔在此区分的动感的两种基本功能对于接下来的阐述具有根本性的指导意义;第三部分分析视域意向性与身体权能性视域的共同作用,内视域和外视域即是由这种共同作用形成的一种视域的可能性;第四部分引入由"弱想象"构成的情景式想象的视域,最后将考察上述几种视域共同作用时的情形。