And Another:

Tony Ellis · 21 Jul 2007, 14:31 · from 2007-July.txt.gz

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From: tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com (Tony Ellis)
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:31:52 +0100
Subject: (urth) And Another:
Message-ID: <9a33123d0707210731he8f430bv9c012ce0fb39431b at mail.gmail.com>

Paul B wrote:
>However, it is just as clear from the examples I gave that his memory,
>especially for faces, is spotty at times

I could dispute those examples, in the unlikely event that anyone is
interested. :-)

>When Severian's memory fails him he doesn't notice it till later, if at all,
>so no mention gets made.  Thus, if he didn't realize he met the old man
>before, of course he wouldn't have anything special to say about meeting him
>again on the Lake of Birds.

My problem with this oft-invoked line of argument is that you can
prove anything by saying "ah, but on this particular occasion,
Severian's memory failed him." How do you know, for example, that
Severian hasn't mis-remembered the actual post-drowning incident, and
the age and appearance of the Gyoll boatman?

Presumably you think that generally, Severian's memory is reliable. In
which case, why should we think that it has failed him when he meets
the old man in the Garden? We can't say "because the old man is also
the Gyoll boatman," because we don't *know* that he's also the Gyoll
boatman. To say so would just be circular reasoning:

"Severian doesn't recognise the boatman because on this occasion his
memory has failed him, which we know because he doesn't recognise the
boatman."

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