Philosophers often talk about streams of consciousness, but it remains unclear what binds individual experiences together into a unified stream. Recent discussion focuses on synchronic unity—the unity of experiences at a single moment. Two main questions arise: whether all simultaneous experiences of a single subject are necessarily unified, and whether synchronic unity is a fundamental phenomenon or arises from more basic processes. This essay reviews recent philosophical work on these questions and argues for certain answers over others.
The chapter explores connections among three forms of consciousness—introspective, access, and phenomenal—and three types of memory: long-term, working, and iconic. It examines how each form of consciousness relates to each memory type, aiming to clarify the interplay between conscious experience and memory processes.