Slow Switching and the Psychology of Memory

This article presents elements of a theory of the representational contents of episodic memory and a new perspective on the relationship between memory and self-knowledge. These two interrelated outcomes fall out of a novel naturalistic treatment of the debate concerning the compatibility between semantic externalism and a priori self-knowledge. In particular, the article offers a response to the memory argument, which leverages the slow switching thought experiment against semantic externalism. All parties in the debate have, so far, overlooked scientific insights into memory. This lacuna is remedied and an empirically informed defence of externalism is proposed.