Memory

General Definition

In psychology and classical philosophy, memory is the capacity of a subject to retain and retrieve past experiences. It generally involves language, representation, and consciousness. In the Ontology of Emergent Complexity, this concept is reinscribed as a material, non-reflective function, prior to the subject and language.

Ontological Variations in the Ontology of Emergent Complexity

Non-Reflective Material Memory

It is the operative persistence of certain internal patterns without consciousness or symbolization. Where matter begins to maintain traces, without language, there is memory in the most primitive and operative sense.

Memory as Functional Symbolic Function

Memory becomes symbolic when organized matter manages to reinscribe variations in an interpretable form. It is the beginning of symbolic time and the internal history of a system.

Memory Beyond the Subject

The OCE rejects the idea that memory belongs exclusively to the human or the biological. It can emerge in any material system that reorganizes itself with consistency and difference. Memory is an effect, not a property.