The semantics of episodic representations

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Kristina Liefke
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567405906

When we recall an event from our personal past, we build up a mental representation of this event. This representation captures what it was like to experience this event and carries rich perceptual information about this event. The SEER project ('SEmantics of Episodic Representations') studies episodic memory representations of this sort. It aims to develop a novel framework for thinking about episodic representations that analyzes these representations through the same (semantic) tools as linguistic and iconic 'meanings' (e.g. possible worlds, truth-conditions, projection). SEER will show how this framework (i) helps answer various current issues in contemporary philosophy of memory, (ii) identifies new, fruitful concepts for metaphysics, epistemology, psychology & neuroscience, and (iii) provides a platform for two-way interaction between semanticists and philosophers of memory. Through this interaction, SEER will promote the emerging 'semantics of memory' to an established research area (next to, e.g., the metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics of memory). SEER will pursue the above objectives in three steps: First, it will show that episodic memory representations share the semantic properties of linguistic and iconic representations and can, thus, be analyzed through formal theories for these representations. Second, it will demonstrate how this analysis makes precise existing views and concepts from contemporary philosophy of memory (thus facilitating (i) and (ii)). Third, it will show, inversely, that this analysis is fruitful for semantics and the philosophy of language itself (see (iii)). The project will illustrate the merits of this analysis on three current topics in the philosophy of memory: memories from non-veridical experiences like dreams, episodic memories of repeated events, and episodic future and counterfactual thought. Respectively, these kinds of thought involve existentially non-committal, referentially unspecific, and non-factual episodic representations. SEER is a strongly interdisciplinary project that relies on the exchange of ideas from semantics and the philosophy of memory. This exchange is made possible by the complementary characteristics of the two research teams: While the French team (at the Universite Grenoble Alpes) has shaped research in contemporary philosophy of memory, the German team (at Ruhr-Universität Bochum) has contributed to the formal semantics of attitudes. The members of the German team will thus supply the tools that are used to analyze the topic represented by the French team. In our recent work, we have provided proof of concept that formal semantics (incl. its extension to iconic systems, in the form of 'Super Semantics') is extremely promising for this analysis and is highly useful for clarifying concepts in contemporary philosophy of memory. Our joint work on SEER will consolidate a sustainable cooperation between the two research teams.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Kourken Michaelian, Ph.D.