All right, this question I will attempt to answer. As the other question, though the topic is striking, appears to me to have a clear-cut answer - of course, without your memory, you are not the same person. How else? I'll just say that physically, perhaps, but not mentally. Mentally you are a blank slate. I am not sure whether that would imply disorientation, innocence, lack of opinion... but I won't delve into these depths; I feel I'd echo fellow explorers' blog posts, anyway.
What I want to know... regarding Augustine's "strategic" recalling of events... have we yet determined his purpose?
(Awh, I wish it was "clear and obvious"!)
But, returning to my initial chosen question. What could an "innate" memory be defined as? Following class on Tuesday, Professor Jackson was explaining how some philosophers (was it Plato?) believed in the existence of a universal regard for the qualities of objects, such as, say, a table. That is, it was believed for people around the world to have an equal and internal perception of the physical qualities of an object like a table. Four legs, flat surface, made of wood, made of stone. Did I get that right?
Is that what "innate memory" is? In Augustine's perception, as well? Searching for happiness and recognizing what it is not he sets forth to exemplify such "innate memory" (that is, based on Augustine's claim that it can't be "strategic" because he's never been at bliss. Sad, really.)
But, what if we need not remember happiness to know what it is? What if we rather need feel it? I'd like to explore neurology in this topic, and propose that maybe our happiness is caused by the euphoria of an endorphin explosion, the joys of a dopamine blast. Perhaps we need not have the slightest memory or idea what it means to be happy.
Maybe as a human race we've considered happiness a mental state because we have no tangible proof of it but a smile on a person's face. We don't see the hormones in action. So, can happiness be a physical mode, yet impelled by thought and mentality (self-produced as well as reactionary to environment)?
Which is it? Is our happiness determined directly by our minds and souls? Or is it not transparent that our minds and bodies interwreathe, are conjoined and unified - if not are the same thing? It is obvious to anyone that the body looks and feels healthier when the mental state of being is exuberant with positive energy.
Well, let's try a different take on the topic of "innate" memory. For example, let's consider how we can tell apart the state of mental tranquility from mental turbulence. Now, is that part of our "innate" memory, and can we remember what peace feels like? Or is it, that we feel it because our bodies slow down, the heart rate drops, we enter a state of energetic recharge that will allow us to continue our daily function and physical survival?
.... of questions, twenty too many. :)
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I feel the same way about this topic as a blog post! I came away from writing it 10 x's more confused than before looking at it! haha But, I do like your take on happiness. I did not think of it as being purely psychological, partly because I took psychology two years ago and my MEMORY (irony) did not wish to strategically remember such information when I sat down to write my post. I think the dopamine explanation to happiness is the easiest to understand, and I think I will agree with it because, in doing so, I feel less confused about the topic. I am so glad I read your post of the stance you took on the question.
Augustine might reply: but how would you know what what you were feeling was happiness?
How would you know?
Well, you would recognize happiness by identifying it to a general collective agreement that is already familiar. Since you live in a society in which the state of happiness is identified, defined, and has the specific seven-letter nomenclature (the Latin 'gaudium'), you grow up exposed to the concept of the state. You grow up exposed to others' experiences of the state.
Once you feel happiness, you connect your state to the definition of society's teachings, and thus you yourself name your happy-hormone blast as gaudium.
This way, no innate memory of gaudium is necessary. No?
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