Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Memory Erasure, and the Problem of Personal Identity

Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy 3:1-16 (2020)
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Abstract

Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s 2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which celebrated its fifteenth anniversary in 2019, is an extended thought experiment on the nature of memory, minds, and persons. The memory erasure thought experiment presented in the film—and its implications for personal identity—raises poignant questions for the ethicist, epistemologist, neuroscientist, metaphysician, and cognitive scientist. In this paper, I explore the rich insights the film has to offer interdisciplinary studies of memory, providing a case study in how narrative can uniquely contribute to memory research, while also maintaining philosophical rigor and fidelity to scientific discoveries about memory. Turning to the philosophical implications of memory erasure, I consider memory erasure in the context of several leading views of personal identity and proposed answers to the persistence question of personal identity, assessing the challenges and complications that the memory erasure thought experiment brought to life by Eternal Sunshine poses to these theories. I argue that the psychological continuity view of personal identity—in its various iterations—does not allow an individual to truly survive the memory erasure procedure. The memory erasure thought experiment presented in Eternal Sunshine—and its metaphysical and epistemological consequences—reveal how we establish the relationship between memories and selfhood, how to define personhood in the presence of both hypothetical and real-world memory loss, and what experiences we value in human life.

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Citations of this work

Ethics and Memory.Marina Trakas - 2023 - In Lucas Bietti & Pogacar Martin, The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan.
Ethical Issues in Memory Modification Technology: A Scoping Review.Junjie Yang - forthcoming - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry:1-22.

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References found in this work

Identity, Consciousness, and Value.Peter K. Unger - 1990 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Subjects of Experience.E. J. Lowe - 1996 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
What is the physical.Barbara Montero - 2007 - In Brian McLaughlin, Ansgar Beckermann & Sven Walter, The Oxford handbook of philosophy of mind. New York: Oxford University Press.
Personal Identity.Eric T. Olson - 2003 - In Ted Warfield, The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Mind. Blackwell. pp. 352–368.

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