Slide 5 of 25
Notes:
Edelman’s article in Daedalus provides an interesting view of the traditional copy theory. He argues that memory should be viewed nonrepresentationally, that a selectionist theory gives a better account for the nature of memory than does a representational account.
He presents a dichotomy that is to some extent a false one. The issue is not whether or not the brain is representational, the question is how does it represent. It surely does not represent experience by placing a small copy of that experience somewhere in the brain.
Much of his argument is consistent with mine, but the mechanism he proposes for accomplishing the deed is different. Selectionist principles may work well for brain development, but they seem somewhat inadequate for accomplishing day-to-day memory feats.
