If consciousness were a phenomenon no one had a memory of, would we even know it to exist?
Absolutely. We have awareness in the current moment. Memory is not required. In fact, if you think about what memory is, it's a current, internal experience that we associate with a concept called the past. All memories are actually experienced in the present, making awareness more fundamental than memory.
Without memory, the contents of awareness would be very different, sure, but it's not a prerequisite for awareness itself.
Since when? (Not just a joke. Also a serious question.)
In fact, if you think about what memory is, it's a current, internal experience that we associate with a concept called the past.
Uh, no. I can remember what I had for dinner last night without having a flashback where I re-experience last night as in some kind of dream.
Without memory, the contents of awareness would be very different, sure, but it's not a prerequisite for awareness itself.
How do you know? There are people who can't move short term memories into long term storage, but they can remember enough to be able to play Tic-Tac-Toe, for example.
> Uh, no. I can remember what I had for dinner last night without having a flashback where I re-experience last night as in some kind of dream.
Just because a memory is not as vivid as sight or a dream, doesn't mean it's not currently in consciousness. Think about it, when you're remembering, you're aware of something: the memory. It could be a fact you're aware of, or a diminished sensory experience playing in the mind's eye, but you're still aware of it.
> How do you know? There are people who can't move short term memories into long term storage, but they can remember enough to be able to play Tic-Tac-Toe, for example.
That example is about memory and behavior, not awareness. A complete anterograde and retrograde amnesic would still have an experience of seeing (some odd shapes) and emotion (being confused, stressed, etc). And in fact, this is what we think the consciousness of pre-long-term-memory infants is. To quote William James: "blooming, buzzing confusion".
> Do we have any verifiable examples of consciousness where there is absolutely no memory? I very much doubt it.
That's true only because 99.99999999999999% of humans have no memory deficits. It's correlated but there's no causal relationship needed. The only thing an amnesic can't be aware of is a memory they can't access or that was never formed.
Absolutely. We have awareness in the current moment. Memory is not required. In fact, if you think about what memory is, it's a current, internal experience that we associate with a concept called the past. All memories are actually experienced in the present, making awareness more fundamental than memory.
Without memory, the contents of awareness would be very different, sure, but it's not a prerequisite for awareness itself.