Autonoesis and Future-oriented Mental Time Travel 1 Autonoetic Awareness: Re-considering the Role of Episodic Memory in Future-Oriented Self- Projection

Following the seminal work of Ingvar (1985), Suddendorf (1994) and Tulving (1985), exploration of the ability to anticipate and prepare for future contingencies that cannot be known with certainty has grown into a thriving research enterprise. A fundamental tenet of this line of inquiry is that future-oriented mental time travel, in most of its presentations, is underwritten by a property or an extension of episodic recollection. However, a careful conceptual analysis of exactly how episodic memory functions in this capacity has yet to be undertaken. In this paper I conduct such an analysis. Based on conceptual, phenomenological and empirical considerations, I conclude that the autonoetic component of episodic memory, not episodic memory per se, is the causally determinative factor enabling an individual to project him or herself into a personal future. Autonoesis and Future-oriented Mental Time Travel 3 The central nervous system enables its owner to prepare for contingencies that experience suggests likely will be encountered (e.g., Fuster, 1995; Klein, Cosmides, Tooby, & Chance