Don't Forget to Remember

A person’s memory can absolutely help in understanding personal identity and personal identity can absolutely be shaped by personal experience. This seems like a nice flow of events and ideas but their can be some hiccups along the way. For the most part I would say that identity and memory are almost one in the same but there are a couple problems with this relationship. Memory is not always faultless nor is it always present.
In the first video we watched on YouTube titled, “How Does Your Memory Work,” young children were unable to recognize their own faces in a mirror. This shows that at a young age we (humans) are unable to remember our faces even though we have seen them before. We are unable to recognize that we are someone in this world. So at this age our identity may be starting to develop but we are unable to remember or recognize it. This is hiccup number one.
The second example I would like to use is from the YouTube video called “Unknown White Male.” In this clip the person of focus somehow miraculously losses his memory and can’t remember anything from his previous “life.” Now this case is a bit extreme but it’s a good source to use to illustrate my point. As humans we do tend to forget things and even if we do remember specific events chances are we don’t remember them exactly as they happened. Memory is crucial for our personality and our social skills. If we can’t remember a situation how will we know how to act if it arises again? Identity is not just physical characteristics but how we manage ourselves in every day life. If the man in the video can’t identify his name or where he is from or who his friends are then he has lost a major part of his identity. This would be hiccup number two.
The second example differs from the first in that in the first example the kids can’t remember because they are unaware of what they are doing, while in the second case the person is aware of the situation at the time but unable to grasp it later in life. So back to the initial statement; a person’s memory can help with personal identity and personal experience can help relate to new situations but only if we are capable of remembering.

Nathan Blanton English 289 Section 005