Memory is an interesting concept. Can you imagine how much crap is stored in our brains that we rarely use? It’s funny to think that if we really wanted to dig deep into the history of our life, we can picture things that happened at certain points of our life. As a college student, I personally rely on memory every day. All the way from when homework assignments are due, to upcoming test dates, memory is a key aspect of my everyday life. In chapter eleven, Crowley and Hawhee discuss how important memory was within rhetorical theory. Crowley and Hawhee assert that “Ancient Rhetoricians distinguished between natural memory and artificial memory” (376). Furthermore, “…artificial memory is a memory that has been carefully trained to remember things” (376). I find it quite interesting how heavily ancient rhetoricians relied on artificial memory as terms of invention. In this case, relaying back on information that they previously stored, then “reorganized and expanded upon these, and added their own interpretations of the traditional material” (376). I never thought of memory as a form of invention. For many today, the practice of reading, re-reading, and writing down material can help us retain material. But living in a world where technology is constantly advancing, the process of retention is not a necessity. In my opinion, we can easily look up a term, theory, event, etc, on our phone faster than taking the time to dig back in our memory, and correctly arrange our ideas.
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