Shoemaker suggests that Locke might object to the idea of forgetting memories by saying all that matters is that memories can be retrieved. Locke would state that as long as memories can be retrieved, perhaps in some kind of special circumstance, is all that matters. It is not important if they are currently being retrieved, just that they are there. By this notion, the old general would then be identical to the young boy and then to the young man and then to the old general, keeping with this continuity. This then does not create the idea of the young boy and the young soldier being separate people and therefore Locke’s theory is not contradicted. With the idea of false memories, Locke might propose a different idea. Locke might say that
